Summary

• The Owner's Pokémon mechanic was unveiled at World Championships 2024, set to return in 2025.
• The cards will feature specific trainers tied to them.
• An animated trailer revealed new Pokémon like N's Reshiram and N's Zoroark EX.

The World Championships 2024 TCG controversies that briefly stole the spotlight.

For those unfamiliar, the Owner's Pokémon design first appeared in the Gym Heroes expansion, and have since remained present within the TCG, though often limited to promotional cards and without a proper full set built around them. Owner's Pokémon have a specific trainer, organization, or location tied to them and can usually only evolve from a similarly named basic - for instance, Misty's Gyarados could only evolve from Misty's Magikarp. It's a popular designation that evokes fond memories of some of the franchise's most storied heroes and villains, and it will be returning in 2025.

What Owner's Pokémon Cards Were Spoiled At Worlds 2024

Lillie's Clefairy & The Return Of N Are The Headliners

The announcement of new Owner's Pokémon was accompanied by a lengthy animated trailer that was among the best the company has ever produced for its trading card game. The Pokémon TCG will see Owner's Pokémon return in 2025, with several trainers already revealed to be present within the set - most prominently, the return of fan-favorite N and iconic versions of their Zoroark and Reshiram will appear.Every card revealed in the trailer is as follows:

• Lillie's Clefairy EX
• Marnie's Grimmsnarl EX
• N's Reshiram
• N's Zoroark EX

Additionally, the confirmation of a few of those Pokémon means we can safely assume the following will also be in the set:

• Marnie's Impidimp
• Marnie's Morgrem
• N's Zorua

We also got brief glimpses of several of these cards and their card text. Perhaps the most interesting one was N's Zoroark EX, which is a new iteration of Zoroark GX, featuring the same ability in Trade. Here's a look at each of the cards we saw during our attendance near center stage of the Pokémon Worlds 2024 Closing Ceremonies:

It might not be the newest idea Pokémon has ever had, but it's one of the best new coats of paint for an old one I've seen in some time. ACE SPEC cards don't quite have the same identity as Owner's Pokémon, which really do place interesting restrictions on deckbuilding due to the specifically designated evolutionary lines - and they ooze personality thanks to the characters tied to them, which helps immediately make them more fun to collect and play.

Screen Rant attended the Pokémon World Championships 2024 as part of its North American media tour.