Battle Partners (SV9) Review — The Set Where the Trainers Took Over
Battle Partners does something the Pokémon TCG had flirted with for years and finally committed to: it makes the set about the people.
Every headline card belongs to a character. Lillie's Clefairy ex. N's Zoroark ex. Iono's Bellibolt ex. Hop's Zacian ex. It's a 132-card love letter to the trainers players actually grew attached to across two decades of games, and it turns out that emotional attachment converts to card prices extremely efficiently.
The chase list
Lillie's Clefairy ex and N's Zoroark ex lead, and both are cards where the character does as much work as the Pokémon. Lillie in particular has a devoted following that predates this set by years. Salamence ex rounds out the top tier for people who'd rather their chase card be a dragon than a character piece.
Why it plays well
Trainer-owned Pokémon come with their own supporting Trainer cards, which makes SV9 unusually deck-relevant for a set of its size. It's not just a collector set with a competitive footnote — a lot of what came out of Battle Partners saw real play.
Practical note
The English version is Journey Together, if you're cross-referencing. SV9 boxes have generally sat at the accessible end of the Japanese market, notably cheaper than SV8a or SV10. For a set with this much character appeal, that's the best value proposition in the Scarlet & Violet range, and it's the box we'd hand to someone opening their first Japanese product.