The Hidden Fates Player's Guide is a booklet included within the Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box detailing the Hidden Fates expansion of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The booklet is written by Wolfgang Baur and was published by The Pokémon Company International in 2019. The content features strategy for the new cards introduced within the Hidden Fates expansion as well as a complete checklist for the expansion.
Contents
Welcome to the Pokémon TCG: Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box!
This Elite Trainer Box contains a great combination of boosters, Energy cards, dice, card sleeves, and extras—congrats on stepping up your game to the Elite level. The Pokémon Trading Card Game: Hidden Fates expansion adds more than 65 cards to the Pokémon TCG, and in the special Shiny Vault subset, it revisits more than 75 favorite cards from the Sun & Moon Series—this time with beautiful textured art featuring Shiny Pokémon. A dream for any collector!
Train hard, choose your Pokémon companions, and take the journey of an Elite Trainer!
New Pokémon-GX Faces from Familiar Places
The nine new Pokémon-GX in Hidden Fates follow a distinct theme—they're all Pokémon originally discovered in the Kanto region, and a couple of them make excellent companions to some of the new Trainer cards in the set (we'll get to them later). Fittingly, three Legendary Pokémon from Kanto appear as the first-ever triple TAG TEAM—Moltres & Articuno & Zapdos-GX! Read on to see how these cards stack up in battle:
Pinsir-GX: Watch out for those horns when battling Pinsir-GX, a Basic Pokémon with 180 HP and two attacks that each cost
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Shiny Art for Dozen of Pokémon and Pokémon-GX!
Collectors, this set is loaded with the Shiny forms of all kinds of Pokémon—including tournament-staple Pokémon-GX—from throughout the Sun & Moon Series. While their Abilities and attacks may be familiar, their artwork is full of stunning texture and color. Here are some notes on a handful of our favorite Shiny takes on returning Pokémon-GX:
Decidueye-GX: You wouldn't want to run into this Decidueye-GX in the middle of he night—you night not even see it coming! A dark color scheme is especially fitting for a ruler of the shadows like this Grass-type Pokémon-GX that originally appeared in Sun & Moon—Guardian Rising. Charizard-GX: This Shiny variant of Charizard-GX from Sun & Moon—Burning Shadows has a dark and dangerous vibe in charcoal with crimson wing. And that Raging Out-GX attack still seems like a good way to flatten an opponent in a game that runs long. Greninja-GX: Originally appearing in Sun & Moon—Forbidden Light, this Greninja-GX has gained an extra layer of stealth with its dark-as-night Shiny coloration. Thanks to its Shuriken Flurry Ability, you can deal out 3 damage counters any time you use Evolution to get it onto the field. Electrode-GX: This delightfully quirky Pokémon-GX from Sun & Moon—Celestial Storm is still puzzling players with its Extra Energy Bomb Ability, which ends with Electrode-GX being Knocked Out. But its Shiny form looks better than ever here in cool blue and white. Mewtwo-GX: Full Burst is still a great attack for
Dozens of other Pokémon and Pokémon-GX in the Shiny Vault subset have alternate art, each with a surprising or subtle variation in color that makes an exciting addition to your collection. If you're eyeing these treasures for your next deck, keep in mind that any card marked with a Yellow A Alternate symbol will rotate out of the Standard format along with the expansion where it was originally printed.
See what you can discover in this set that surprises you with visual twists and double takes!
Six Super Combos!
The Hidden Fates expansion has some great combinations, both with cards from earlier expansions and within the new set itself. Here are some big moves you could pull off with a little planning—and a little luck!
The Team Rocket DiscardUse Jessie & James to discard Weezing from your hand, forcing your opponent to discard yet another card from their hand. Then, Arbok's Rocket Tail attack does 50 damage—plus 80 damage for Jessie & James being in the discard pile. Team Rocket's up to no good again!
Super-StarmieStarmie-GX has some great attacks to begin with, and you can make them even better with Misty's Cerulean City Gym, boosting their damage by 40. There's definitely a home-team advantage in Pokémon battles at this Gym!
Knock Out ResistanceOnix-GX is a mighty Basic Pokémon with 200 HP—which makes it tough for your opponent to Knock Out! Make it even more difficult to knock Out with Brock's Pewter City Gym, which causes it to take 40 less damage from your opponent's attacks. If it does take damage, use Pokémon Center Lady to keep it battling even longer. Any big-HP Pokémon can become a major obstacle for your opponent with the right support, but Brock's beloved Pokémon in Brock's Pewter City Gym is an extra-tough defender.
Welding Your Way to a WinCharizard-GX looks simple at first, even tough its Flare Blitz-GX attack does a whopping 300 damage—enough to take down even a TAG TEAM Pokémon! The trouble is getting to that cost quickly. One option is to use Welder to charge up faster and surprise your opponent with a huge KO!
The first-ever TAG TEAM trio has a whopping 300 HP, but its Trinity Burn attack is a little tricky to power up. If you can get a ,
, and
Pokémon onto your Bench, Arceus
's Trinity Star attack can make things easier. You can search your deck for a 3 basic Energy cards and attach them to your Pokémon, meaning you can get that
,
, and
Energy for Trinity Burn! And when the time is right you can follow that up with the Sky Legends-GX attack to do 110 damage to 3 different Pokémon—potentially getting three or more Prize cards at once!
Start by putting a few Naganadel on your Bench and using the Charging Up Ability to soak up some Energy. When the time is right, play Misty's Water Command to move those Energy to your Psyduck, Horsea, Staryu, Starmie-GX, Magikarp, Gyarados, or Lapras—your pick!
Top Trainer Cards!
The Hidden Fates expansion offer a few great Trainer cards with tricks and tactics and ways to turn a losing game into a clear win! These are our favorite new Trainer cards from the main expansion and the Shiny Vault subset both for power decks and for fun.
Brock's Peter City GymThis Stadium card is all about Onix-GX, which feels so at home in this place that it takes 40 less damage from the opponent's attacks. Super niche and super fun!
Brock's TrainingIf you know Brock's favorite Pokémon, you won't be surprised that he likes to keep them full up on Energy. With this Supporter card, you can attach an Energy card from your hand to 1 of several Pokémon—including Geodude, Sudowoodo, Rhyhorn, and even Onix-GX.
Your opponent discards 2 cards from their hand—but you have to discard 2 cards from your hand, too. For extra Team Rocket trickery, play this Supporter card when it's the last card in your hand.
All Eight Kanto Gym LeadersAll eight Kanto Gym Leaders are in this expansion, which hasn't happened for quite some time in the Pokémon TCG. Choose your favorites, and then see what strategies you can come up with using cards featuring them and the Pokémon they're known for using in battle.
Misty's Cerulean City GymSort of the opposite of Brock's Pewter City Gym, this one is about putting Starmie-GX on double-time offense! All Starmie-GX do 40 more damage to the opposing Active Pokémon!
Misty's DeterminationDiscard a card from your hand to look at the top 8 cards of your deck and take 1 of them into your hand. This is a fantastic way to trade in a card that's not very useful in a particular match for a card that makes all the difference. Misty's Determination gives you a definite boost!
Misty's Water CommandMisty is always looking to keep her Pokémon well hydrated. This Supporter card lets you shuffle around any and all of your Energy to Psyduck, Horsea, Staryu, Starmie-GX, Magikarp (which doesn't need much!), Gyarados (which really does need it!), and Lapras. It's musical chairs, but for
Energy!
Let the healing begin! With the gentle support of Pokémon Center Lady, 1 of your Pokémon recovers 60 damage, and all of its Special Conditions go away. This card is a great way to keep your biggest stars battling at full power.
CynthiaThe Champion of the Sinnoh region is a popular Supporter in Pokémon TCG tournaments, and she reappears in Shiny Vault of a full-art card with the Shiny forms of Lucario and Garchomp, two of her trademark Pokémon. Use this versatile Trainer to replace your hand with 6 new cards—no matter how many were in your hand to begin with.
GuzmaYour boy Guzma returns in Shiny Vault as a new full-art Supporter card that certainly makes a statement and is a useful addition to almost any deck. Not sure if you can tell...but we're Guzma fans!
Pokémon TCG: Hidden Fates Card List
This section lists out the 69 cards of the Hidden Fates expansion, and their rarities, along with the 94 cards from the Shiny Vault subset.
Credits
Original Japanese Game
English-Language Version
The Pokémon Company International
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