Pokémon Temporal Forces: Release Insights and Must Have Cards

The next set from the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet series is upon us already in the form of Temporal Forces. Temporal Forces is released on 22nd March 2024 although it seems only yesterday we were getting excited for Paldean Fates! This set is shaping up to be an absolute game changer and it looks like Pokémon have hit it out the park with this one. There are some extremely playable cards for competitive players and there are some stunning artworks for collectors. There are a whole host of excellent trainer cards and incredible new Pokémon, as well as the much anticipated return of ACE SPECs! All in all, there is something for everyone in this set. So without further ado, let’s dive into Temporal Forces and check out some of the best cards.

An Overview of Scarlet and Violet Temporal Forces

Temporal Forces is due to be a pretty massive set featuring 218 cards, although 56 of those are secret rare cards. There is a big focus on paradox versions of many legendary Pokémon including Suicune, Entei, Raikou and Virizion. But the most exciting thing for many players is the return of ACE SPEC cards. If you have played Pokémon for a decent amount of time (2013/2014) then I’m sure you will remember ACE SPEC cards from their previous releases. These are trainer and energy cards which are so powerful, you are only allowed to play one copy of a single ACE SPEC in your deck. They are similar to Radiant Pokémon in that respect. We will take a look at ACE SPEC cards in more detail in a little while.

Temporal Forces continues to build upon the phenomenon of paradox Pokémon and we are introduced to many new Pokémon that we have not seen before in the TCG. I’m sure anyone who plays the video games will be very familiar with these new Pokémon and will have been excited for their release. But for those of you that have never seen these Pokémon before, fear not because we will take a look at the best of the weird and wonderful Pokémon in this set!

Release Date and Pre Order Details

The set officially releases worldwide on Friday 22nd March and you can order any of the products from this set from Magic Madhouse right now! You can find all the usual sealed items from this set, including booster boxes, elite trainer boxes and single and 3-pack blisters.

Key Cards From Temporal Forces

As we know, Temporal Forces is stacked full of brilliant new Pokémon and trainer cards. We are going to take a deep dive here and check out all the most playable and collectable cards from this set. We’ve got paradox versions of multiple legendaries and so this might be a long list! Let’s start with the legendary beasts, which you will notice are all Ancient Pokémon.

Of course, these would not be true paradox Pokémon if they didn’t have epic names and Gouging Fire ex, Walking Wake ex and Raging Bolt ex are no exception to this rule. These are paradox versions of Entei, Suicune and Raikou and each one looks to have some viability in the current meta. Gouging Fire ex is a massive 230HP Basic Pokémon and it has an equally powerful attack to match. For 2 fire and a colourless energy, it deals a whopping 260 damage, with the drawback that it can’t use this track again until it leaves the active spot. It also has a backup attack that deals 60 damage for a fire and a colourless. We may see Gouging Fire ex sneaking its way into Charizard ex decks thanks to its ability to take early game knockouts where Charizard may struggle.

Next up we have Walking Wake ex and this one is a little bit of a slimmed down version of his fire brother. Coming in with 220HP and an ability which means that Walking Wake’s damage is not affected by any effects on the opponents Pokémon. This means it can hit through stall type Pokémon like Mimikyu, which can be an excellent way to get out of a tight spot. It only has one attack but it is pretty powerful. For a water and 2 colourless energy it does 120 damage but if your opponent's active Pokémon is affected by a special condition then the attack does 120 more damage. So you could be doing 240 damage plus any extra from the special condition. If this is poison and you have a Radiant Sneasler in play, this could be 3 more damage counters after your 240, totalling 270 damage, which should knock out most things!

The final part of this trio is Raging Bolt ex and this one has been tipped as being the strongest of the lot. It has an enormous 240HP which is one of the biggest Basic Pokémon we have seen. It is also a dragon type and so has no weakness and it is an Ancient Pokémon so it benefits from lots of the Ancient Supporter and Item synergy. You may be thinking that that’s all it needs to be excellent, but oh no, it gets better. Its first attack allows you to discard your hand and draw 6 cards for only a single colourless energy. That can be really useful early game to get you out of a bind. Its second attack is where the real spice is, for a lightning and a fighting energy this attack does 70 damage for each energy card you discard from your Pokémon in play. That doesn’t have to be from Raging Bolt, it can be from anywhere. So this has seen some initial play when coupled with Gardevoir ex, which allows you to bring psychic energy into play, which you can then discard for a massive attack.  

We are also being treated to paradox forms of the Swords of Justice, in Iron Leaves ex, Iron Boulder ex and Iron Crown ex. These are all amazing future Pokémon and each one is excellent in its own right. Iron Boulder is a real juggernaut with 240HP and its fighting type has good coverage. Its first attack is sneaky and does 60 damage, but if Iron Boulder is attacked back during the next turn then the attacking Pokémon takes 8 damage counters. Iron Boulder’s big attack is for 2 fighting and a single colourless energy and does 200 damage, with the drawback that you must discard 2 energy from it. You can increase that damage even more by attaching a Future Booster Energy Capsule which adds 20 damage to future Pokémon’s attacks as well as giving them free retreat. If you have some Iron Crown’s on the bench as well you can boost that damage even further.

This seems like the perfect time to talk about Iron Crown ex which is a 220HP psychic Pokémon and is the paradox form of Cobalion. It has a fantastic ability which boosts the damage of your future Pokémon by 20 for each Iron Crown ex on your bench. This means if you have 4 on your bench then you can increase your attacking Pokémon’s damage by 80! That’s huge! It also has a decent attack which costs 1 psychic and 2 colourless energy and does 50 damage to 2 of your opponents Pokémon, regardless of weakness, resistance and any effect on those Pokémon. Iron Crown ex is a brilliant support Pokémon and will see lots of play in future box style decks.

The final part of the trio is Iron Leaves ex, which is a 220HP grass type Pokémon. Iron Leaves is a brilliant attacker, thanks to its combination of big attack and great ability. Its attack costs 2 grass energy and 1 colourless and does 180 damage. Being a grass type, this is enough damage to one hit KO a charizard ex, thanks to weakness. Iron Leaves’s ability can really help that attack get powered up and you can get it attacking out of nowhere. Its ability lets you play it onto your bench and immediately switch it into the active spot. If you do then you can move any energy from your benched Pokémon to your Iron Leaves ex that moved into the active. So you can play it onto your bench and then attack straight away! That’s really powerful.

There are a whole load of other interesting cards in this set which we could spend hours going over but maybe that is best left for its own blog! Let’s take a look over the new ACE SPEC cards, which have not been in the game for over 10 years! These are super powerful cards which are so good, you are only allowed one copy of a single ACE SPEC in your deck. With Temporal Forces, there are 5 trainer cards and 1 energy card. The energy card is Neo Upper Energy which is an energy that gives a stage 2 Pokémon 2 energy of any type. This is fantastic for stage 2 Pokémon which have multiple energy types in their attack cost, although is probably one of the weaker ACE SPEC cards when compared to the others.

Next up we have Awakening Drum, which simply allows you to draw a card for each of your ancient Pokémon in play. A free ‘draw up to 6’ is bonkers good and can really help you out of a bind and dig for that last card you need. Although it only works for ancient cards, we have seen some of the great ancient Pokémon available and there will no doubt be entire ancient decks out there. We also have the Reboot Pad, which works with future Pokémon and allows you to attach an energy card from your discard pile to each of your future Pokémon in play. That can be the difference between winning and losing and an extra energy attachment during your turn can be critical. This one only works for future Pokémon though, but with those future Pokémon we looked at earlier, they all need 3 energy for their big attacks and this can help them get there quickly.

Hero’s Cape is a tool card which gives the Pokémon ‘wearing’ it +100HP. That’s any Pokémon by the way, that Charizard ex with 330HP? Sure, give it another 100HP. You get the idea, now your Iron Leaves ex isn’t even one shotting that Charizard!

Do you have trouble finding that Pokémon in your deck which can win you the game? Well, Master Ball might be the new card you are looking for. It allows you to search your deck for any Pokémon and put it into your hand. No restrictions here and no discarding cards to grab it, just find whatever Pokémon you need and put it into your hand. Brilliant. Next up is Maximum Belt which is a tool card and allows the Pokémon using it to deal 50 more damage to your opponent's active ex Pokémon, before weakness and resistance. This is the perfect damage boost to tip you over the damage thresholds and get those knockouts.

Prime Catcher is our final ACE SPEC card and the one that is regarded as the most universally brilliant and can slot into almost any deck. It is an item card which allows you to switch your opponent's active with their bench and also swap your own active to the bench. This is like Boss’s Orders on an item card. So you could play this and Iono in the same turn which could be devastating for your opponent. An excellent card that will surely see tons of play in lots of different decks. All of these new cards will be game changers so make sure you take advantage of them too and get some in your decks!

Where to Purchase Temporal Forces

You can find all the latest releases on our website at Magic Madhouse. We have a huge stock of Temporal Forces booster boxes, elite trainer boxes, blister packs and single cards, including all the ones we mentioned above. Temporal forces looks like it is going to completely reshape the meta so make sure you pick up all the important cards for your deck now.