GamingPokemon

Pokemon Go x Pokemon TCG: Professor Willow card set details revealed

byAndrew Amos
The Pokemon Company

The 25th-anniversary celebrations for Pokemon haven’t ended with Pokemon Day. Niantic’s AR-based game Pokemon Go is getting a crossover with the traditional trading card game.

From the Diamond and Pearl remakes, to a host of new titles, the Pokemon Company didn’t hold back to celebrate the iconic franchise’s 25th anniversary. However, if you thought the announcements were over, you were sorely mistaken. Now, Pokemon Go and the trading card game (TCG) are getting in on the action, with a crossover between the two franchises coming in the Summer of 2021. https://twitter.com/PokemonGoApp/status/1367628366841589763 Professor Willow, who was introduced in Pokemon Go, will appear as a new TCG card releasing in Summer 2021. It’s likely Willow’s card will be a Trainer Card, although its ability is yet to be revealed. This is the first part of the collaboration; timed to also celebrate the 5th anniversary of Pokemon Go’s release in July. More details about Willow’s card specifically will be released in late May.

“We plan for this card to be obtainable in regions around the world where the Pokémon TCG is sold,” the Pokemon Go team said in the March 4 announcement. “Starting in late May 2021, we plan to announce the art and content of the Professor Willow card and details on how to get the card in each area.”

Professor Willow Field Research@PokemonGoApp
Professor Willow will be the focus of the first Pokemon Go x TCG crossover.
More collaborations between the two arms of the Pokemon franchise are also being planned for later in 2021 and beyond. Details of these crossovers aren’t yet finalized. Despite this, trainers have speculated that these future crossovers may include the addition of the Team Go Rocket members to the Pokemon TCG collection. This would be a great direction to take this collaboration by slowly integrating Pokemon Go into the main franchise’s canon.

For now, we’ll just have to wait for any big announcements surrounding these collaborations which will no doubt be revealed after the Summer of 2021. Although it’s a long time to wait, given how Niantic’s AR-based title revolutionized the franchise by putting a new spin on things, the Pokemon Company won’t be short on ideas to bring the mobile game to tabletops around the world.