"Guardians Rising," the second trading card game expansion pack for "Pokémon Sun" and "Pokémon Moon," was released on May 5.
The pack includes Alola's island guardians Tapu Koko-GX and Tapu Lele-GX. It also comes with new Pokémon introduced in "Pokémon Sun" and "Pokémon Moon," such as Lycanroc and Kommo-o. It also comes with the cards from the SM+1 expansion, such as Choice Band and Vikavolt-GX.
According to IGN, regional variants of Alola will be included in the pack as well. For example, the Diglett there have three metallic hairs on the tops of their heads, and their Dugtrio have what appears to be long, blond locks.
While the expansion pack is promoted to contain 140 cards, Gamasutra notes that it is actually more than that, as it also comes with 12 new Pokémon-GX and three full-art Supporter cards.
While these are "physical" cards, buying these will also allow players to unlock virtual cards that can be used for the "Pokémon Trading Game Online."
The expansion pack has received mixed reviews. While some praise it for introducing the regional variants of known Pokémon, there are others, such as the Pokémon TCG Headquarters, that had a lukewarm reception to it. It describes "Guardians Rising" as a "fairly basic expansion," merely extending the cards made available with the "Sun and Moon" Base Set. It also observes that the pack does not have any direct theme other than featuring the Tapu family. Nonetheless, the website notes that the cards in the expansion pack, particularly the two Guardian cards, are powerful.
The 10-card booster packs are priced at $4 each. These are inclusive of the new cards, plus a code card for the "Pokémon Trading Game Online." Meanwhile, two new 60-card theme decks will be priced at $13. The latter features the Legendary Pokémon creatures Lunala and Solgaleo, and can be played right away, as these are specifically designed as an entry point into the game.
