Zorua gets “precious” art in latest Pokemon TCG reveal
The Pokemon CompanyNight Wanderer is the next upcoming Pokemon TCG expansion set and the card reveals have been slowly but steadily making their way out into the community. This expansion set drops on June 7, 2024, closely following the Twilight Masquerade expansion release.
Alongside reveals featuring Genesect and the Rowlet evolution chain, one card that’s gone down immensely well with the community is Zorua (072/064). This Art Rare was illustrated by the artist REND, who has been gradually building up a cult following in the community.
Officially revealed on the Japanese Pokemon TCG YouTube channel, the card features Zorua napping on the edge of a building. The artwork is strikingly different to the majority of recent Pokemon card reveals, and it’s one to watch as a collector – the cards with this art style from Twilight Masquerade already hold some value.
Pokemon TCG collectors on Reddit were hyped about the Zorua reveal, with one person saying, “And people are still like “vintage cards have best artworks!” Definitely not. This card is amazing.” Another agreed, saying that some vintage cards were great but that cards like this were “amazing and adorable”.
Another viewer chimed in with their thoughts, saying, “My Zoroark line collection is going to become a lot cuter! Such a sleepy little guy.” Others simply dubbed the card “eepy” Zorua.
One Pokemon fan shared their love for the artist who illustrated this card, declaring, “REND is one of the new artists that I really love. Most of their art has that photographic depth of field effect, which looks so good in drawn art. Love it. I’m collecting all of REND’s cards right now.”
Others were curious about whether this reveal indicated a new Zoroark ex card. A Zoroark card has been revealed already, but it’s not an ex card. It’s hard to say with certainty at the time of writing as a full card list is not available, but it’s possible we could get a new Zoroark ex in the set after Night Wanderer.
The Pokemon CompanyThanks to translations from PokeBeach, it’s safe to say that there is some competitive viability with these cards. Zorua isn’t particularly heavy-hitting, but with 70HP it could work as an early-game starter. Zoroark, however, has an Attack that can deal 110 damage right off the bat.
Alongside this, Zoroark has the Attack Phantom Jack. When used, this card does 60 damage for each of the opponent’s ex and V Pokemon in play.
Some fans in the PokeBeach forums were confused by the wording here, querying why the card didn’t just reference all Rule Box ‘mons instead of ex and V Pokemon. One commenter pointed out that, “they don’t want it to count Radiant Pokemon for some reason”.
Another fan theorized, “I think it’s an anti-power creep effort. Except for Ability locking effects (all of which are noticeably weaker than ones that already exist in Expanded), they’ve consistently chosen the phrasing that makes the card weaker.”
These are both fair points – Radiant Pokemon are still popular in the competitive circuit, especially Radiant Greninja. The latest Pokemon card expansion sets do seem to be encouraging Stall and Control decks, and they’re leaning towards cards that aren’t tanky in a lot of cases. It’s a period of change for the TCG.
As we get closer to the release date, we’re sure to see more card reveals for Night Wanderer, so check back for further updates and card breakdowns. It’ll be interesting to see whether this duo of cards gets any play in the competitive circuit and how people choose to use it in their decks.