Stormfront (TCG)

Diamond & Pearl - Stormfront (Japanese: 破空の激闘 Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky) is the seventh and final expansion of cards of the English Diamond & Pearl Series of the TCG. The Japanese release is the sixth and final of the Japanese DP Era.

Description
The Sky Darkens... The Earth Trembles... The Storm is Coming!

A turbulent force is approaching and it's on a collision course with everything you thought you knew about the Pokémon TCG! In Diamond & Pearl--Stormfront, you are met head-on by powerful Pokémon unrestrained and never holding anything back! In this frenzy you'll find new Pokémon LV.X, Trainer cards that power up when played together, and the dramatic entrance of some of the most popular Pokémon ever! The time has come to enter the storm, and witness this awe-inspiring spectacle first hand!

Information
Stormfront is the seventh Diamond & Pearl Series expansion, originating from Japan as the sixth DP Era expansion, Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky. The 38th English expansion overall, it was released on November 5, 2008 with 106 total cards. The Japanese expansion was made available July 10, 2008, but only contained 92 cards. The additional cards in the English expansion originated from the TCG Giratina vs Dialga Deck Kit, which was released on the same day in Japan and is seen as a complement to the main expansion.

The Japanese release was in commemoration of the eleventh movie Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin, which debuted in theaters a little more than a week later. Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky features the debut of in the Pokémon Trading Card Game; however, as the movie wasn't going to be released until about seven months later in the United States, all of the movie related Legendary Pokémon—Shaymin,, and —were saved for the English TCG Platinum expansion, which was released within the same week as the movie. Thus, the English release was forced to pick up new focuses based on the card that were left over.

The TCG booster pack artwork for this expansion features, , , and. Infernape and Torterra were featured in the expansion as Rare Holofoil cards, while Dusknoir and Regigigas were two of five Pokémon featured as TCG Pokémon LV.X, the others being, , and. The TCG Theme Decks TCG Raging Sea and TCG Dark Rampage feature and  respectively, with Raging Sea containing  and  Pokémon, and Dark Rampage including  and  Pokémon. The illustrations are done by Kouki Saitou.

The expansion introduces several other features that will remain prominent inclusions throughout the subsequent Platinum Series. Shiny Pokémon return to the card game after last being featured at the end of the Generation III EX Series expansions. The three Shiny Pokémon cards are featured at the end of the expansion with their own numbering (starting at SH1) that continued throughout the TCG Platinum, TCG Supreme Victors, and TCG Platinum: Arceus (Arceus) expansions. The Japanese prints featured Starlight Holofoil, while the English prints came in Mirror Reverse Holofoil. Also included were the first releases of TCG retro cards, a series of reprinted cards from the Original Series updated to the current standards of the Generation IV. In this expansion, re-releases of Mitsuhiro Arita's TCG Base Set, , and were included with updated illustrations, card layout, and card text for the current standards. This feature continues through the Platinum Series, but ends with Supreme Victors. They are included in the English expansion as TCG Secret cards. Stormfront marks the end of held items appearing the TCG, but introduces TCG Trainer cards with a + at the end of their name, which each have a different effect depending on whether the player uses one or two of the same card at a time.

Pokémon LV.X in the Japanese release feature a new printing style not used on any of the Pokémon LV.X beforehand: each of the six Pokémon LV.X feature a Glossy overlay overtop their Cosmos Holofoil. Since it only started with Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky, this feature is exclusive to the in-set print of, not being included on the TCG DP-P Promotional cards (DP-P Promotional print) release four months prior. Additionally, because of the earlier promotional release, Heatran LV.X was not provided with a regular Heatran to Level Up from, causing Heatran LV.X to be useless in a TCG limited format setting. This is a trend continuing from TCG Secret of the Lakes, TCG Moonlit Pursuit , and TCG Temple of Anger. Each of these promotional Pokémon LV.X were made available as inserts in the previous sets' Official Visual Books.

Heatran LV.X isn't the only Pokémon in the expansion without the rest of its evolutionary family. ,, and were each released without the rest of the Starter Pokémon families, most likely due to their inclusion in the expansion utilizing the second type of their dual-type status. For each of these three Pokémon, this expansion marks the only time these three Pokémon utilized their second type. The in the Japanese release was also left without its evolutionary family, with the  and  being included in the TCG Giratina vs Dialga Deck Kit.

In the Japanese expansion, none of the Pokémon cards featured Pokédex entries due to several of the cards containing too much card text for one to be fit on the card. However, in Stormfront, if a card has either an attached item (such as a Magnet) or more than three items of text (such as a Pokémon Power and two attacks), the card will not include a Pokédex entry: otherwise, it will, unlike in the Japanese expansion.

The TCG Prerelease cards (Prerelease promo) for this set is, with the promotional prerelease sleeves featuring Dusknoir. Officially, the English release of the set contains 100 cards. Between Alternate Holofoils, promotional stamps, Reverse Holofoils, and TCG Secret cards, the set contains 207 cards. A list of the non standard cards can be seen below.

In other languages
Sturmtief (TCG) es:Diamante & Perla (TCG): Frente Tormentoso Diamant & Perle Tempête Stormfront 暴风雨前（集换式卡片）