What are ACE SPEC Pokemon Cards?

A new kind of Pokemon card is about to shake the Pokemon TCG universe. Well…sort of new.

They’re called ACE SPEC cards and they are extremely powerful. And they hail from past Pokemon sets, blazing into full glory once again in Scarlet & Violet thanks to the soon to be released Temporal Forces expansion.

In this guide, we’re going to be looking into what exactly ACE SPEC Pokemon cards are, why they matter, and how you can use them to gain a huge competitive advantage over your competition.

But first, a little Pokemon history lesson.

ACE SPEC Pokemon cards bring back an old mechanic

If you are new to the Pokemon TCG – or at least to playing it competitively – you might not be familiar with the fac that Pokemon cards rotate in and out of competitive play each and every year. It’s called the Pokemon standard rotation, and it’s often the source of anxiety for many a Pokemon player who must learn to rebuild their favorite deck all over again.

Because the trading card game rotates, mechanics and cards often come and go. This is what we mean when we say ACE SPEC cards are an old mechanic that Pokemon is bringing back. Obviously something about them worked or Pokemon probably wouldn’t bring them back. And they are certainly set to massively shakeup the current meta.

So how do ACE SPEC Pokemon cards work, exactly?

ACE SPEC are item cards or special energies that are so powerful you are only allowed to have one of them in your deck. That’s one ACE SPEC total – not one of each.

If you’re like me and you weren’t playing the Pokemon TCG competitively during the Black and White era when ACE SPEC cards were originally introduced, you might understand them better if you think about Radiant Pokemon. Introduced in Astral Radiance, Radiant Pokemon are so strong that you can only have one single Radiant Pokemon in your deck.

ACE SPEC cards work like that. Only, in my opinion they seem even stronger.

Which ACE SPEC card is strongest?

As already mentioned, ACE SPEC cards are making their grand debut in Temporal Forces. Luckily, right now we know what several of them are. For more info on the cards being released, you can see our Temporal Forces guide. One of these cards is so strong, however, that it’s worth delving into it a little bit right here. It’s called Master Ball, and anyone who is at all a fan of Pokemon should be familiar with the concept of that particular Poke Ball.

The ability to search your deck for any Pokemon at all without having to pay an additional cost is huge. If you’re wondering which ACE SPEC card is most likely to have an impact on the meta, you really don’t have to look any farther than this Master Ball. I doubt there’s a deck in the world that will be willing to pass on this powerful card, especially with other Pokemon grabbing card search cards rotating out.

Here’s what the ACE SPEC Master Ball is going to look like when Temporal Forces comes out

Will ACE SPEC cards change Pokemon TCG forever?

When a new mechanic is introduced into a card game, people tend to go a little crazy for it. However, ACE SPEC cards are unlikely to massively change the Pokemon TCG. Sure they will become a vital new element to the game (much as Radiant Pokemon were following their debut), most likely people will gravitate to one particular ACE SPEC above all others, the way they did with Radiant Greninja. The mechanic itself will be largely forgotten about before long, except for those decks that are able to make use of them the best.

Given how powerful Master Ball is, I would imagine this will be the go-to ACE SPEC pick for most decks.