Which Trainer and Pokemon pairs do we hope to see make an appearance in the Pokemon TCG? Here are our top 10 picks.
Pokemon and Trainer Pairs Honorary Mentions
Honorary Mention: Ethan and Spiky-Eared Pichu
While this list is meant to encompass Pokemon and Trainer pairs that weren’t confirmed in the animated announcement video at the Pokemon World Championships in Honolulu, we have to make an exception for this honorary mention. We know Ethan will be making a TCG appearance with Pichu, which is already a huge deal: besides a lone Japanese-exclusive promo card, Pichu hasn’t appeared in the Pokemon TCG since the HeartGold & SoulSilver era. That’s 15 years ago! But what’s more elusive than a Pichu Pokemon card? A Pichu with spiky ears.
The Spiky-eared Pichu is a special Pichu that players could only obtain in HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions from an event distribution. It couldn’t be traded or transferred, essentially trapping it in these games for over 15 long years. In the Owner’s Pokemon trailer, Ethan’s Pichu’s ears are conveniently off-screen, meaning there’s a possibility—no matter how slight—for Ethan to not just bring Pichu back to the TCG, but to bring the Spiky-eared Pichu back and into the modern era. We can’t think of a better reference to this elusive event Pokemon than in a special Pokemon card.
Honorary Mention: Erika and Dragonite
Owner’s Pokemon in the TCG have historically featured Pokemon that their Trainers have had in the video games or the anime. The few Pokemon that deviated usually made sense for the Trainer thematically, such as the Fire-type specialist Blaine with Moltres. But Erika had an especially unique set of Pokemon in the TCG that she didn’t have in the games or anime: a Clefairy, a Dratini, and a Dragonair.
The Dragonair was especially memorable, with beautiful art and not being anywhere close to the Grass type she specializes in. Its soft, gentle design still made it a great partner for Erika, while showing a side of her that was exclusive to the TCG. Erika’s Dragonair never got to evolve into a Dragonite, but the upcoming return of Owner’s Pokemon could be just the opportunity for it to reach its final evolutionary stage. Erika’s Dragonite would be both entirely new and a nostalgic throwback to a classic card.
Honorary Mention: N and Zekrom
This is the “follow our heart” honorable mention entry. N’s Reshiram was revealed with a jaw-droppingly beautiful illutration rare in the Owner’s Pokemon announcement trailer, yet we can’t help but hope that N will also have a Zekrom to go along with his Reshiram.
Aside from a few manga series and the Reshiram & Zekrom Tag Team GX card, N was predominantly associated with Reshiram across the Pokemon series until Pokemon Masters EX added him in 2020. Since then, we’ve started seeing N with Zekrom more often, such as in the 2021 Pokemon Evolutions animated mini series and the beautiful Zekrom character rare card from the Brilliant Stars set.
Hopefully, N will partner up with Zekrom in the TCG this time around, too—but if not, at least let Hilda or Hilbert, the protagonists of Pokemon Black and White Versions, appear with it instead, and make a reference to their clash with N in an epic illustration rare card.
Top 10 Pokemon and Trainer Pairs We Hope Get Added to the TCG
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #10: AZ and Floette
With Pokemon Legends: Z-A on its way, it’s prime time for X and Y’s AZ to make a return with his unique Floette. Whether AZ and his Floette make an appearance in Legends: Z-A or not, this duo was incredibly underutilized in X and Y, and deserve some spotlight.
The iconic “It’s been 3000 years” scene can be replicated in illustration rare form for this Pokemon card, and would be an overall satisfying choice for a Trainer and Pokemon duo in the TCG.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #9: Iris and Excadrill
Some of the classic Owner’s Pokemon were clearly inspired by Trainers’ teams in the anime, including the Rock-type Gym Leader Brock and his Fire-type Vulpix. Part of the fun of the Pokemon TCG is seeing the unique ways it plays around with and even combines elements from the games and anime, such as the Sword & Shield series’s Rapid Strike, Single Strike, and Fusion Strike styles, and the Scarlet & Violet series’s Future and Ancient cards.
There are some other obvious choices for Trainers and anime-exclusive Pokemon pairs like Lillie and Alolan Vulpix. But we know from the announcement trailer that Lillie will focus on Fairy types, making Alolan Vulpix, which evolves into the Fairy-type Alolan Ninetales, a fairly safe pick.
Iris and Excadrill, on the other hand, are less expected while being just as possible to occur in the TCG. From a gameplay perspective, it would be interesting to see how the TCG Fighting-type Excadrill could possibly synergize with Iris’s other Pokemon, which will be Dragon-type first and foremost. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be competitively viable, Iris’s Excadrill would still be a fun card to add to any collection.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #8: Crasher Wake and Hawlucha
We think the upcoming Owner’s Pokemon would be a great chance for more unique Pokemon and Trainer combos in the same vein as Erika’s Dragonair. And who better to stand alongside the masked wrestler Crasher Wake than the luchador Pokemon Hawlucha?
Unlike subsequent wrestler Trainers like the Masked Royal, Crasher Wake never had the opportunity to use Hawlucha, which was introduced two generations after his home games of Diamond and Pearl Versions. What’s more, Crasher Wake doesn’t specialize in Fighting-types or even Dark-types to represent wrestling heels—he’s a Water-type Gym Leader whose teams across the generations don’t say “wrestler” in any way.
But that can change in the TCG with a Hawlucha by his side, even if it goes against his typical taste in type.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #7: Lear and Gholdengo
The Pokemon TCG has featured characters from the anime and movies throughout its history, so why not add Trainers from spin-off games, too? Lear would make a great representative from Pokemon Masters EX and may even bring his retainers Sawyer and Rachel along for the ride.
There are a few Pokemon partners that could work alongside Lear, but the one we want to see most is Gholdengo. It would be a great fit for the current Scarlet & Violet rotation, and it may also give us a stunning illustration rare card featuring Lear in his snazzy fifth-anniversary sygna suit.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #6: Emma and Espurr
Emma is an underrated character from the post-game “Looker Episodes” of Pokemon X and Y, and it would be wonderful for her to get some time to shine in the Pokemon TCG. Throughout the game, she’s most often seen with an Espurr, who would make for a solid TCG companion.
Espurr might not seem like a powerhouse, but during the Sun & Moon era, it was a key piece of the “Caturday” strategy. This deck used a Persian with the Ability “Gathering of Cats,” which makes it so that you ignore all Energy costs for the moves of your Pokemon as long as one of their moves is “Caturday.” Yes, you could use any of their attacks, no Energy attached—literally.
Espurr’s Ear Kinesis combined well with Glameow’s Boing Boing Tail and Meowstic’s Perplexing Eyes, allowing it to snipe powerful Pokemon-EX and -GX off the opponent’s bench. It was a slow, budget deck, but fun for casual matches. Emma, who lives on the streets of Lumiose City, could appear in the TCG with her Espurr and a slew of “street cats” to recreate the Caturday archetype.
If not, at least the illustration rare of an Emma’s Espurr would be undoubtedly heartwarming.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #5: Hatsune Miku and Melted
The Pokemon TCG has featured some very interesting Trainers throughout its history beyond anime and movie characters. For a few examples, the Pichu promo mentioned in the Honorary Mentions section was made as a part of a campaign with Japanese YouTuber Hajime Syacho, and an Altaria promo was released in Japan featuring Tomohisa Sako, a musician who has worked on the Pokemon anime.
It only seems fitting, then, that Hatsune Miku could also make her debut in the Pokemon TCG. Along with the highly popular Project VOLTAGE song collection was a set of illustrations and costumes of Hatsune Miku as a Trainer of different Pokemon type specialities.
She could easily appear in the Pokemon TCG alongside Meloetta, or even another one of her many different Pokemon partners, including Miraidon or Obstagoon. Illustration rare versions of Hatsune Miku’s Pokemon would no doubt be huge chase cards for collectors, and we certainly wouldn’t be opposed to seeing the TCG make some reference (or references) to Project VOLTAGE.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #4: Red and Espeon
Battling Red at the peak of Mt. Silver in Gold, Silver, and Crystal Versions is one of the Pokemon series’s most iconic moments. In HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, Red’s team was changed to include a Lapras. It synergized well with the new addition of ever-present Hail, but gave his team two overlapping Water-types and removed his only Pokemon from Johto: Espeon.
Espeon was the most interesting member of Red’s team in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, story-wise. It indicated that he had the popular Pokemon Eevee, likely from Kanto, and raised it with love to become an Espeon. It may have even been an indirect nod to the anime: while Red’s anime counterpart Ash didn’t have an Eevee of his own, his rival Gary did, and it evolved into Espeon’s counterpart Umbreon in the Gold and Silver series.
Besides Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the only time Red’s Espeon has been seen was all the way back in Pokemon Stadium 2. We would love to see Red’s Espeon finally make a return, and the TCG may be the best place for that to happen.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #3: Kieran and Terapagos
Kieran captures the legendary Pokemon Terapagos for only a brief battle in The Indigo Disk, but it’s a memorable point for both the story and Kieran’s character arc.
The Pokemon TCG is a great vehicle for highlighting unique moments across the series such as this. Kieran’s Terapagos has the potential to offer unique strategies with other Kieran’s Pokemon, especially if he also gets his competitive BB League Champion teammates like Politoed, Dragonite, and Incineroar.
It would be a great chase card for collectors, especially if it gets an illustration rare variant—we can only imagine how cool it would be to capture the moment of Kieran using his newly-caught Terapagos in card form. As for the Ogerpon he so wanted but could never have… we’ll wait on Pokemon Masters EX to give Kieran another shot to snag his beloved ogre.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #2: Ghetsis and Seismitoad
In the Owner’s Pokemon announcement video, we saw that the return of owner’s Pokemon could also bring back classic cards with a new coat of paint. N’s Zoroark-ex was revealed as an all-new “Trade Zoroark,” or Zoroark-GX. Zoroark-GX was a top tier draw engine back in its day thanks to its Ability “Trade.” If Zoroark-GX can make a comeback, why not another classic menace? Seismitoad-EX was a powerful Pokemon with the move “Quaking Punch.” For just two Colorless Energy (or one Double Colorless Energy), Seismitoad-EX could lock the opponent out of playing Item cards from their hand, shutting down plenty of strategies.
There are two main contenders to use Seismitoad in the Pokemon TCG. One is N, and the other is Ghetsis. N doesn’t use Seismitoad in Pokemon Black and White Versions, but he does use its pre-evolution Tympole, so it’s not a far reach for him to have Seismitoad in the TCG. Ghetsis, on the other hand, does use Seismitoad in Black and White and their sequels. Seismitoad-EX is a perfect Pokemon for Trainers who want to watch the world burn (or, in some cases, freeze over), making Ghetsis as its Trainer a match made in the Distortion World.
Pokemon and Trainer Pair #1: Volo and Giratina
When Volo received a Supporter card in the Lost Origin TCG set, we were surprised that he didn’t make any appearances alongside his Pokemon in a character rare illustration card. The return of Owner’s Pokemon is a great opportunity for Volo to get more TCG limelight.
While Pokemon like Garchomp and Togekiss are easy choices—and welcomed all the same—we think Giratina would make for an exciting option that captures Volo at his most menacing. If Volo’s Giratina had an Ability that allowed it to be played even when your bench is full, and it can change form instead of being knocked out once… it may very well break the game, but it would also instill the same fear into TCG players as it did to everyone who played Legends: Arceus. Game-breaking mechanics or not, we’d love for Volo and Giratina to team up once again, even if it’s not in our best interest.
