The upcoming Sword & Shield - Brilliant Stars expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game will add VSTAR Pokémon to the game, which are powerful Pokémon that have unique one-shot abilities. The Pokémon TCG has introduced a number of powerful Pokémon cards that can skip the evolution process while being summoned, with the caveat that they give the opponent more Prize Cards when defeated.
In the current version of the Pokémon TCG, there are Pokémon V cards. These have high hit point scores, powerful attacks, and are Basic Pokémon, which means that fully-evolved forms can be summoned straight away. If a Pokémon V is defeated, then it rewards the opponent with two Prize Cards. The introduction of the Dynamax and Gigantamax mechanic in Pokémon Sword & Shield led to it being adapted to the card game, in the form of Pokémon VMAX cards.
These VMAX cards in Pokémon TCG are even stronger than the Pokémon V cards, but they reward three Prize Cards when defeated. The V line later added Pokémon V-UNION cards, which were composed of four separate cards that were assembled from the bench and discard pile, with the player able to use all abilities listed on each card. The drawback was that these gave three cards upon defeat and actually assembling all four pieces at once could be difficult. The next Pokémon TCG set is Sword & Shield - Brilliant Stars, which is adding the Pokémon VSTAR mechanic to these games. These work a little differently from the existing V cards and are likely to be powerful additions to a number of decks.
VSTAR Pokémon Have Unique One-Shot Abilities
Pokémon VSTAR cards evolve from their respective Pokémon V cards. The Pokémon VSTAR cards have higher hit points, stronger attacks, and give two Prize Cards upon defeat. What makes them so powerful is that they have a VSTAR Power, which can be an attack or an ability. The player can only use one VSTAR move per game, assuming the Pokémon has the required amount of energy needed to perform it. These include Arceus VSTAR's Starbirth VSTAR Power, which lets the player search their deck for two cards and add them to their hand, and Charizard VSTAR's Star Blaze VSTAR Power, which requires three Fire Energy and one other Energy card and discards two Energy upon use, but it deals 320 points of damage, which is enough to take out even a VMAX card.
It has been announced that Arceus, Charizard, Shaymin, and Whimsicott will receive Pokémon VSTAR cards, and that Glaceon and Leafeon will have VSTAR cards in collection sets. Pokémon VSTAR cards promise to be a powerful addition to any Pokémon TCG deck, but they have the additional nuisance of needing to evolve from a Pokémon V card that's already on the field, which means there will be situations where they will sit unused in the player's hand, unlike the regular Pokémon V cards.
The Sword & Shield - Brilliant Stars expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game will launch on February 25, 2022.