Jolteon-EX and M Lucario-EX from the upcoming Mega Powers Collection have been revealed in full! Both cards are reprints with new artwork. The Mega Powers Collection will be released in America and Europe on May 19th.

Notice anything different about the way these new reprints are numbered?

When it was originally released back in 2014, M Lucario-EX from Furious Fists was numbered #55/111 with the Furious Fists set symbol. Jolteon-EX from Generations was originally numbered #28/83 with the Generations set symbol when it was released last year.

As you can see on the new reprints above, M Lucario-EX is #55a/111 from Furious Fists whereas Jolteon-EX is #28a/83 from Generations. Both now have a capital yellow “A” in the corner of the card to denote that these are alternate prints.

Rather than printing reprints as new black star promos, future reprinted promos will now be labeled with their original card number and set symbol (but with a, b, c, etc. in their card numbers). And they will always have the “A” in the corner to make it clear these are alternate prints. If Jolteon-EX gets another reprint in the future with alternate artwork, it’ll be labeled #55b and have the “A” for “alternate” in the corner.

Pokemon is doing this to make card legality more streamlined. Rather than print the new M Lucario-EX as a promo card with new numbering, this new system doesn’t “renew” the original card’s legality, and it’s now much clearer to fans that both the original Furious Fists print from 2014 and this new 2017 print in the Mega Powers Collection share the same legality since they’re both printed as being from Furious Fists.

The alternate prints of Shaymin-EX and N from The Best of XY? I bet we’ll definitely get them now since there’s no worry of them “renewing” the legality of the original prints. You just get to enjoy their new artwork!

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me ask a week ago what the “A” might mean on Japanese cards. Foreshadowing! :D