Fusion Strike

What Fusion Strike is

Fusion Strike is the eighth main expansion of the Sword & Shield Series, released in English on November 12, 2021 under the set code FST. It has 264 cards in the numbered set plus 20 secret rares, for 284 cards in total, and that total made it the largest expansion ever released in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, a record it held until Ascended Heroes passed it on January 30, 2026.

The set introduced the Fusion Strike style as a third battle style beside the Single Strike and Rapid Strike styles from Battle Styles. Fusion Strike Pokémon are built to work with one another and with dedicated Trainer and Energy cards, and the Mythical Pokémon Mew, printed as Pokémon V and VMAX, is the face of the mechanic. Genesect V and Hoopa V join it, while Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon appear as Gigantamax VMAX cards in the two older styles.

Fusion Strike gathers cards from the Japanese Fusion Arts expansion, the High Class Decks, the Sword & Shield Family Pokémon Card Game set, cards from Eevee Heroes, Towering Perfection and Blue Sky Stream that were not localized in Evolving Skies, and several S-P promotional cards. Each English pack held ten cards and a basic Energy card, and Fusion Strike packs were the first to include a code card for Pokémon TCG Live. Cards carry the E regulation mark.

What makes Fusion Strike different

• 284 cards, a record for four years The set held the size record for Western Pokémon TCG expansions from November 2021 until Ascended Heroes released with 295 cards on January 30, 2026, and it still has more non secret cards than that set.
• Alternate art VMAX cards in the secret rare run The 20 secret rares hold the alternate art Chandelure VMAX 265 (AKIRA EGAWA), Inteleon VMAX 266 (Kazuma Koda), Boltund VMAX 267 (PLANETA Tsuji), Mew VMAX 269 (AKIRA EGAWA), Espeon VMAX 270 (Kouki Saitou), Gengar VMAX 271 (sowsow) and Greedent VMAX 272 (PLANETA Mochizuki), with the rainbow Mew VMAX 268 among them.
• Alternate art Pokémon V Celebi V 245 (Teeziro), Mew V 251 (Naoki Saito), Genesect V 255 (Akira Komayama) and Greedent V 257 (Saya Tsuruta) are the set's alternate art V cards, each numbered right after its standard full art.
• The Fusion Strike style Fusion Strike Pokémon share support cards such as Fusion Strike Energy 244, Cross Switcher 230, Crossceiver 231 and Power Tablet 236, a design that rewards playing many Fusion Strike cards together and made Mew VMAX a competitive deck for years.
• Seven rainbow Trainers and five gold cards Chili & Cilan & Cress, Dancer, Elesa's Sparkle, Schoolboy, Schoolgirl, Shauna and Sidney appear as rainbow rare Supporters (273 to 279), followed by gold Flaaffy 280, Power Tablet 281, Training Court 282, Grass Energy 283 and Fire Energy 284.
• Battle Academy and event stamps Dozens of Fusion Strike cards exist with numbered Battle Academy 2022 deck stamps (Vulpix, Ninetales, Sizzlipede, Centiskorch, Shinx, Luxio, Luxray, Zeraora, Bug Catcher, Shauna and more), Quick Ball 237 was a 2022 International Championships promo in participation, staff, Top 8 and Champion versions, Judge 235 has a Professor Program stamp, and Snom 84 carries a silver snowflake stamp from the 2023 Holiday Calendar.

How Fusion Strike arrived

Japan released Fusion Arts on September 24, 2021 as five card packs, following the Towering Perfection and Blue Sky Stream pair and preceding Star Birth. The English set combined Fusion Arts with the High Class Decks, the Family Pokémon Card Game set and leftovers from the Evolving Skies sources, and released on November 12, 2021, between Celebrations in October and Brilliant Stars in February 2022.

Prerelease events were scheduled for the weekends of October 30 to 31 and November 6 to 7, 2021, but shipping constraints pushed them back a week, so stores could only start unofficial prerelease tournaments and Build & Battle Box sales from November 6. Each Build & Battle Box held four booster packs and a 23 card Evolution pack with one of four SWSH Black Star Promos: Oricorio (SWSH 168), Pyukumuku (SWSH 169), Deoxys (SWSH 170) or Latias (SWSH 171), plus a non holofoil Dragapult 130. The Build & Battle Stadium, listed for November 26, 2021, packed two of those boxes with 121 basic Energy cards, dice, markers and four more packs for two player Limited format play.

The set stayed in print for a long time. Walmart hanger boxes with three Fusion Strike packs appeared as late as September 2023 in Scarlet & Violet style packaging, and stamped Fusion Strike cards kept turning up in Battle Academy 2022, the Hisuian Electrode V Box, the Boltund V Box and the Sword & Shield Knock Out Collection.

Fusion Strike products and what came in them

The Elite Trainer Box features Mew and holds eight booster packs, 65 Mew card sleeves and four dividers, six damage counter dice, a coin flip die, two acrylic Special Condition markers, 45 basic Energy cards, a rulebook, a player's guide and a Pokémon TCG Live code card. The Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box has a different box and Mew sleeve design and adds 65 Genesect sleeves, a Mew coin and two more packs for ten in total. Neither box includes a promo card.

Single pack blisters carry Tepig (SWSH 172) or Blitzle (SWSH 173), three pack blisters carry Espeon (SWSH 174) or Eevee (SWSH 175), premium checklane blisters reuse the Rillaboom and Cinderace lines from Chilling Reign and Stage 1 blisters carry one of the two Urshifu lines from Chilling Reign, each with a coin and a code card. The Collector's Album holds one pack and displays 60 cards.

Collecting and grading Fusion Strike

Gengar VMAX 271 is the card of the set and one of the defining alternate arts of the Sword & Shield era; the live prices above show the gap between a raw copy and a PSA 10. Espeon VMAX 270 and Mew VMAX 269 follow, then the alternate art Mew V 251, Celebi V 245 and the rainbow Mew VMAX 268. Because the set is so large, the alternate arts are harder to pull than their equivalents in smaller sets, which is part of why they hold value.

Prize Pack Series prints of Gengar VMAX 157, Boltund VMAX 104, Mew V 113 and Mew VMAX 114 trade on their own thin markets and should not be confused with the standard prints, and the Battle Academy stamped commons are promos rather than pack pulled cards. The checklist below keeps Prize Pack and stamped rows separate.

Sword & Shield holofoil shows print lines and surface scratches under angled light, and the textured alternate arts chip at the edges, so inspect before submitting. Fusion Strike was printed heavily and for years, so sealed booster boxes and Elite Trainer Boxes remain easy to find, and the sealed table above shows what they trade for today.