Ascended Heroes doesn't revolutionize Pokemon cards, but I still think it's an essential purchase you need to see

Ascended Heroes is a fine bridge between the Scarlet & Violet and Mega Evolutions eras of the Pokemon TCG, even though it’s so far failed to find a viable spot in the all-important metagame.

As the latest “special set,” a Pokemon TCG set available only through boxed products as opposed to standalone booster packs, Ascended Heroes is part collectors’ paradise, part nostalgia bait, and part new cards. Instead of relying on a video game era, Ascended Heroes serves as a final celebration to the Scarlet & Violet era. The new set features reprints of particularly lauded cards and a handful of new cards that use the Trainer’s Pokemon gimmick featured in a handful of sets last year. But while the set certainly has collectability, it hasn’t found purchase in the metagame, meaning that it’s being passed by despite a handful of promising additions to one of the best card games.

Special sets are typically celebratory sets that utilize a staggered release schedule of products and no standalone booster packs. The only way to obtain these cards is to spend money on more expensive products like Elite Trainer Boxes or special collector boxes with ancillary pieces. As stores typically carry less of these products at any given time, more products are released after a special set’s initial release, meaning that a lucky buyer (the Pokemon TCG is still facing a severe shortage of products due to high demand and resellers) will see special set products on the shelves years after their first release.

Ascended Heroes is one of these special sets. Like some past sets, it contains a mix of reprints and new cards, the latter of which features new Mega Evolutions as seen in Pokemon Legends: ZA. The reprints are pulled from popular Scarlet & Violet sets and feature cards as early as Koraidon ex to more recent highlights like Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex. For these reprints, the big highlight is the addition of new alternate art cards, providing new chase card versions of already popular cards.

While the reprints are fun semi-nostalgic look backs at the recent past, the real draw is the new Mega Evolution cards. Ascended Heroes is the home to several popular new Mega Evolutions, including Mega Dragonite, Mega Meganium, and Mega Hawlucha, as well as classic Mega Evolutions like Mega Charizard Y and Mega Gengar. Mega Evolutions are the new gimmick for the Pokemon TCG, offering up Pokemon with true power creep but with the tradeoff of losing 3 Prizes when a Mega Evolved Pokemon is Knocked Out.

Another fun gimmick in this set are the new Mega Attack Rare cards, which largely replace Full Art cards in the set. These cards hearken back to the XY series of cards, with Mega Evolved Pokemon shown in mid-attack surrounded by Japanese katakana. This is a callback to a similar visual aesthetic found on the original Mega Evolution cards, although this set features a dynamic art style more akin to comic book or manga artwork.

The weird thing about Mega Evolutions is that they haven’t really taken hold in the Pokemon TCG metagame yet. Outside of Mega Gardevoir ex, these souped up cards haven’t found much of a place in the top deck lists. While sets like Scarlet & Violet – 151 and Twilight Masquerade have all featured must-have Pokemon cards for players, so far Ascended Heroes hasn’t placed any vital cards. Of course, not every set needs a deck centerpiece and Ascended Heroes has plenty of reprints of vital cards, but it still seems like a bit of a downside that this set hasn’t shook up the metagame in some way.

On the plus side, collectors are going bananas for this set. The Special Illustration Rare version of Mega Gengar ex is currently selling for over $1,000 on secondary sites, and there are a total of seven cards from this set selling for more than $250 and a total of ten cards selling for over $100. Of course, the trade-off is that Special Illustration Rare and Mega Hyper Rare cards are both incredibly rare as there’s no booster boxes to boost the odds of pulling one of these cards.

Overall, Ascended Heroes has enough cool cards that it’s worth trying your odds if you find a box sitting on the shelves. Usually, I’d be disappointed if a set didn’t contain some meta-shifting cards, but special sets tend to be harder to find and have rarity issues, so I’m happy that this set didn’t really move the needle. If you enjoy the Pokemon TCG, grab some Ascended Heroes when product is available. The good news is that Pokemon will continuously release Ascended Heroes over the next few months, so you’ll have plenty of chances to add some of these cards to your collection.

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