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ACE SPEC cards as of the Scarlet & Violet Series
ACE SPEC cards (Japanese: ACE SPEC ACE SPEC) are a classification of Pokémon Trading Card Game cards first introduced in the Boundaries Crossed expansion. ACE SPEC cards are powerful cards with the restriction that a deck is limited to at most a single ACE SPEC card of any sort.
Information
An example of an ACE SPEC card from the Black & White Series An example of an ACE SPEC Special Energy card
An ACE SPEC card has a powerful effect which can completely change the course of a game, such as searching the deck for any card, switching in the opponent's Benched Pokémon, adding large amounts of attack damage or HP, and so on. Due to their power, a player is limited to only one ACE SPEC card of any kind when building a deck. For example, if a deck includes Prime Catcher, any other ACE SPEC cards like Hero's Cape or Maximum Belt may not be included.
ACE SPEC cards were first introduced in the Boundaries Crossed expansion of the English Black & White Series (the Japanese BW Era). In total, there are 13 ACE SPEC cards introduced during the Black & White Series, all of which are Item cards or Pokémon Tool cards.
There were no more ACE SPEC cards released after the Black & White Series (except for reprints) until the English Scarlet & Violet Series (the Japanese Scarlet & Violet Era), in which ACE SPEC cards make their return. The return of ACE SPECs into the TCG format was first announced on August 13, 2023,[1] and further elaborated on during the Kyoto Championships League 2024 tournament held on December 23-24, 2023.[2][3][4] The first batch of the new Scarlet & Violet Series ACE SPEC cards were released on January 26, 2024, in the Japanese expansions Wild Force and Cyber Judge, and the Japanese Starter Deck & Build Sets. These ACE SPEC cards are included in the English Temporal Forces expansion, released on March 22, 2024.
Beginning with the release of these products, all ACE SPEC cards have a unique magenta colored design and, when applicable, a unique "ACE SPEC Rare" (
) rarity in English; the equivalent rarity in Japanese is "ACE" (
). As of the Scarlet & Violet Series, besides being Item cards or Pokémon Tool cards, ACE SPEC cards can also be Special Energy cards or Stadium cards. There are currently 18 ACE SPEC cards introduced during the Scarlet & Violet Series, two of which are reprints of cards from the Black & White Series (namely, Master Ball and Scoop Up Cyclone).
