Pokemon TCG: The 11 Cards We'll Miss Most After 2025 Rotation

Summary

• Cards like Radiant Greninja and Lugia VSTAR are rotating out, forcing players to find new strategies.
• Losing cards like Snorlax and Heavy Ball changes gameplay dynamics, requiring players to adapt.
• Canceling Cologne and Lost Vacuum exits mean players must adjust to new ways of countering abilities and removing cards.

2025 marks another rotation period for the Pokemon TCG. This means cards that fall under the D, E, and F regulation mark must say goodbye. Ultimately, this means players will need to reevaluate their strategies and some decks become unviable while others gain a few new tricks.

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Of course, there are some cards that no one really wants to see take a leave. These cards have been carrying many decks with tricks that allow you to draw more cards, take cards from the prize pool, and even make incredible comebacks. So which cards will players miss most now that they have been cycled out?

11 Radiant Greninja

An Excellent Draw Card

Radiant Greninja is one of the most beloved Radiant Pokemon due to its ability to turn Energy into hand advantage. For the low cost of one Energy discard, you could draw two cards thanks to its Concealed Cards Ability.

You could also do this from the Bench on your first turn. Unfortunately, this is one card that got hit with the 2025 rotation. This means players will need to find alternate ways to draw cards. Luckily, there are plenty of other options even if they aren’t as radiant.

10 Radiant Charizard

A Fiery Comeback

Charizard decks take a hit with the loss of Radiant Charizard. This card was an excellent addition due to it getting easier to use the more Prize Cards your opponent has taken. This made it an excellent way to make a comeback with one powerful move.

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With Radiant Charizard gone, you will need to play just a bit more carefully since you no longer have that safety net sitting on the Bench. This Charizard can finally face retirement next to the other valuable Charizards in your collection.

9 Lugia VSTAR

A Powerful Attacker

Lugia VSTAR is an incredible card that says goodbye during rotation. With other VSTAR Pokemon also taking a leave, this one is one of the best due to its ability to instantly place other Colorless Pokemon onto the Bench from the discard pile.

Combined with Archeops, which can get Special Energy onto the field faster, Lugia Vstar could one-shot many other Pokemon while getting rid of Stadium cards. With an incredibly simple playstyle, Lugia VSTAR will be missed as other decks come to take its place.

8 Regidrago VSTAR

Goodbye To The Most Versatile Dragon

Regidrago VSTAR is one of the most flexible Dragons. This is because it can utilize any Move that your other Dragons have as long as they are in the discard pile. So, for only two Grass Energy and one Fire, you have the entire discard pile as your resource.

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Its VSTAR Power is also a great way to get more Dragons where they need to be for Apex Dragon to work its magic. However, all that flexibility is gone and so is the deck that revolved around the strategy.

7 Snorlax

Removing The Roadblock At Last

One of the biggest stall cards in the game must take leave during rotation. This is the Snorlax from the Pokemon Go set. With 150 HP and its Block Ability stopping your opponent from switching out Pokemon, Snorlax made itself a huge headache for players.

This one card doesn’t need to attack to do some major damage to your opponent’s game plan. It just needs to sit there and absorb your opponent’s attacks while you set up everything you need on the Bench and turn a quick game into a long haul.

6 Heavy Ball

Making Use Of Prize Cards

Poke Balls can be quite useful in the Pokemon TCG. They can fetch cards that you need and add them to your hand. However, Heavy Ball is a unique card that can get you something from your selection of Prize Cards.

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This is great because it lets you get knowledge of which cards have been prized, while swapping out a Basic Pokemon that you find there for the Heavy Ball. Unfortunately, this is also another card that got cycled out, which means you can no longer use it to retrieve any Basic Pokemon that got trapped in the Prize pool.

5 Canceling Cologne

An Ability Stopper

Being able to turn off the Abilities of a Pokemon during your turn can be vital towards getting over some of your opponent’s powerful cards. This can come in useful if your opponent has an Ability that stops you from evolving, attacking, or using your own Abilities.

This is why so many players liked to have at least one copy of Canceling Cologne in the deck. It’s always useful for when you run into a roadblock. With canceling Cologne out of the picture, Abilities that affect you during your turn have one less thing to worry about.

4 Lost Vacuum

Cleaning The Field

If you’re looking for a way to get rid of Pokemon Tools or Stadium Cards, then you’ll need to search elsewhere now that Lost Vacuum has become lost itself. This card found use anytime a player wanted to get rid of select Trainer cards for good.

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So, rather than sending Tools and Stadiums to the discard pile, it instead sent them to the Lost Zone where your opponent won’t be able to get to them through normal card recursion strategies. It lent a hand in leveling the playing field.

3 Kirlia

Gardevoir’s Draw Power

Gardevoir is a fan-favorite Pokemon in both the games and the TCG. However, the 2025 rotation shoots down one of its best cards. This is Kirlia, which may seem ordinary at first, until you realize it gives the deck so much draw power for the mere cost of a single discard.

Luckily, Gardevoir is still playable, though it loses some consistency, which overall makes the deck weaker as other decks prove themselves to be stronger. This just happened to be the Kirlia of choice.

2 Irida

The Best Water Searcher

Some of your favorite trainers are walking out the door and one of them is every Water-type deck’s favorite, Irida. This card gave players a massive advantage by fetching a Water Pokemon of their choice, as well as an Item from the deck.

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One deck to use this combo is Chien-Pao ex, which could search for a vital Evolution piece as well as a Rare Candy. The card itself could be utilized in many different ways, giving Water-type decks that extra bit of consistency.