The latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Scarlet & Violet—Temporal Forces, arrives March 22, 2024, but you can visit your local game store to play with it early! Starting March 9, 2024, select retailers will begin selling the Scarlet & Violet—Temporal Forces Build & Battle Box, giving fans a chance to have a Prerelease battle and experience the latest expansion before its official release date. To find a Prerelease event near you, be sure to use the Event Locator.

The Prerelease format allows players to compete using a 40-card deck with four Prize cards set aside at the start of play, as opposed to a 60-card deck with six Prize cards. This format is perfect for introducing new players to the exciting world of the Pokémon TCG with quick, fun games, and it also gives seasoned players a window into all that Scarlet & Violet—Temporal Forces has to offer. Due to a limited card pool and the variance of cards that can be acquired in a Build & Battle Box, Prerelease events are also a great opportunity to flex your creative deck-building skills.

Each Build & Battle Box includes four Scarlet & Violet—Temporal Forces booster packs, a 40-card ready-to-play deck featuring key cards from current and prior sets, as well as one of four unique foil promo cards to boost your Prerelease deck. Depending on which promo card you get, you could add the torrentially powerful Feraligatr, the Metal Energy-accelerating Metang, the prehistoric Koraidon, or the futuristic Miraidon. Whichever promo card you end up with, it will certainly shape your Prerelease strategy!

The saying goes “No pain, no gain,” and Feraligatr is certainly leaning into it with its Torrential Heart Ability. Once during your turn, you may put five damage counters on Feraligatr, and if you do, its attacks will do 120 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon. The bonus 120 damage on its own would be enough to strike fear into your opponent’s heart in the Prerelease format, but when combined with the Giant Wave attack—which does 160 damage—Feraligatr can even dish out a one-hit Knock Out against unexpecting Pokémon ex!

Forge a path to Prerelease success with Metang and its powerful Metal Maker Ability. Once during your turn, you may look at the top four cards of your deck and attach any number of Basic Metal Energy cards you find there to your Pokémon in any way you like. Prerelease decks often feature more Energy cards than traditional decks due to their limited selection of Trainer cards, so Metang is likely to be a powerful form of Energy acceleration for any Pokémon that has Metal Energy or Colorless Energy in its attack costs.

No matter which Pokémon you pair Metang with, you’ll want to have more than one Metang in play to ensure you can use Metal Maker several times per turn. This also gives you the option to evolve Metang into Metagross when the timing is right—having multiple Metang in play means you can take advantage of Metagross’s more powerful attacks while still having Metal Maker at the ready.

Koraidon is showing off as a Dragon type in the Pokémon TCG for the first time in Scarlet & Violet—Temporal Forces. You’ll want to bring the Ancient pain with Koraidon and a few of its friends since its Primordial Beatdown attack does 30 damage for each of your Ancient Pokémon in play. With six Ancient Pokémon in play, you can do 180 damage for just one Fighting Energy and one Energy of any type—a flexible attack cost that lets you mix and match Koraidon with other Ancient Pokémon no matter their types.

Miraidon made its Pokémon TCG debut in Scarlet & Violet as an Electric-type Pokémon, but now you can start to show its draconic side with this Miraidon in Scarlet & Violet—Temporal Forces. If you pair Miraidon with other Future Pokémon, its Peak Acceleration attack is an easy way to hit the ground running—it does 40 damage for one Energy of any type and lets you search your deck for up to two Basic Energy cards, attaching them to your Future Pokémon in any way you like. It’s the perfect Prerelease promo for Trainers who love to keep up the tempo and leave their opponents in the dust.

There are variations among Build & Battle Boxes, so you can add your own creative twist when building your deck. Whether you’re heading to a local game store or just playing with a friend, have some quick and fun battles using cards from the new Scarlet & Violet—Temporal Forces expansion! If you’re not able to make it to a Prerelease event, these Build & Battle Boxes will be available for purchase when the expansion officially launches.