Journey Together Prerelease Promos & Decks Ranked
Let’s get this out of the way from the start: Journey Together prereleases (starting March 15, 2025) should be crazy fun based on the promos. The most exciting aspect about these promos is that each of them is a trainer’s Pokemon: the perfect way to prep players for the set which is going to be heavily focused on that specific mechanic.
Trainer’s Pokemon unlock unique and powerful effects that are only available within the worlds of that trainer’s Pokemon, offering welcome variety to the Pokemon TCG meta. Whereas currently most decks have equal access to some of the strongest cards (think the powerful Fezandipiti draw engine), decks from Journey Together should feel markedly distinct. For example, N’s Zoaroark introduces cards that quickly and effectively accelerate energy onto Pokemon via N’s PP Up, while also enabling unparalleled switching via the N’s Castle stadium.
Both of these effects only work for N’s Pokemon, thereby limiting their usefullness across the board of Pokemon decks and also lending a disntinct advantage to Trainer’s Pokemon who admittedly have their work cut out for them in a powerful and often Tera-dominated format.
With all of that being said, let’s look at each of the Pokemon TCG: Journey Together Prerelease cards that you can get from Build and Battle Boxes available at local game stores.
Journey Together Prerelease Promos ranked
Each of these Promos is pretty exciting and has the potential to be powerful. With that being said, some are inevitably stronger than the others. Below, I’m going to be ranking each Journey Together Prerelease Promo from weakest to strongest, as well as offering some helpful deck building tips you can use to make the most out of the prerelease kit you happen to get.
#4 Lillie’s Ribombee
Let’s start with the Pokemon that is clearly the weakest of the bunch, especially in the prerelease format: Ribombee. In a stall deck, Ribombee’s Inviting Wink ability can be pretty handy, forcing your opponent to field a bunch of Basic Pokemon that aren’t advantageous to have at the same time, thereby slowing them down.
However, in prerelease, your opponent is likely going to just be fielding as many basic Pokemon as they can anyways, so you’re sort of just helping them out by playing this effect.
#3 Iono’s Kilowattrel
Iono’s Kilowattrel could be a handy card, but it is definitely a supporting Pokemon and not your main attacker. Being able to draw until you have six cards in your hand each and every turn feels pretty broken in a prerelease format. However, that being said you will have to have the spare energy on hand to make this ability function. Often, in prerelease you’re limited to just the energy you are able to manually attach from hand. Typically, you need that energy in order to just get your stronger attacks off.
I don’t see much coming out in Journey Together that’s likely to be included in the prerelease kit to make this effect actually useable, unless you happen to get lucky enough to pull an Iono’s Bellibolt ex from your packs.
#2 N’s Darmanitan
Now that we’re past the two supporting Pokemon, let’s look at the first of the strong attackers we get in the Journey Together prerelease. N’s Darmanitan can actually be quite strong, and could go pretty crazy in a prerelease format depending on what other cards you get.
If you are lucky enough to get a few of the N’s PP Up card, then this guy could quickly go from handy to deadly, as taking two potential KOs in a turn via Flamebody Cannon is almost unheard of in prerelease and certainly a huge advantage if you get it off.
The main problem with this guy is that his regular two energy attack isn’t always going to be effective as its damage output is dependent on how many energies are in your opponent’s discard.
As if that weren’t a big enough drawback, Flamebody Canon also discards all energy after being used, meaning after spending all your resources powering it up, you will essentially be starting from zero energy-wise next turn.
Again, this attack could be absolutely deadly with the right supporting cards. Until we know what the prerelease kit comes with, however, getting those cards could be entirely up to chance.
#1 Hop’s Snorlax
I’m going to go out on a limb here and call Hop’s Snorlax as the strongest of the prerelease promos here for a few reasons. First of all, he’s doing an insane 170 damage right off the bat thanks to Dynamic Press bolstered by Extra Helpings. If you happen to have the Hop’s Choice Band included in your kit, then that attack jumps to a deadly 200 and can be pulled off for only two energy.
What’s more, Snorlax’s Extra Helpings helps other attackers on your board as long as they are Hop’s Pokemon. Undoubtedly this prerelease kit will included several Hop’s Pokemon you can use in tandem with Snorlax to demolish your opponent.
However, that being said, you really don’t need them as Snorlax is capable of winning an entire battle by itself.
Based on these promos, we’re in for a wild ride at the Journey Together prerelease event which starts on March 15, 2025. For more prerelease deck building tips, checkout my Pokemon TCG prerelease guide.
