Pokémon LEGEND (TCG)

Pokémon LEGEND are a variant of legendary Pokémon found in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. They first appeared in the HeartGold & SoulSilver expansion as one of two replacement variants for Pokémon LV.X. Pokémon LEGEND are one or two Pokémon consisting of two different cards: the first is the top half of the card and the second is the bottom half of the card. Pokémon LEGEND always have LEGEND at the end of their names and, as a result, differ from their regular variants. However, both halves of the card have the same name, so only two copies of a complete Pokémon LEGEND card can be used in a deck. During gameplay, Pokémon LEGEND cannot be played during setup and are exempt from anything that affects Basic Pokémon or Evolution cards, though anything that affects Unevolved Pokémon will affect Pokémon LEGEND. Both halves of the card must be played to the Bench at the same time, and count as one card while in play. Outside of play, each half is treated as a separate card.

An example of a complete Pokémon LEGEND

In terms of the design of a complete card, the illustration takes up three-quarters of the entire space, with the card text positioned around it on the bottom half of the second card, broken into pieces as if the text was being pushed aside by the illustration. The entire card is also holographic. All Pokémon LEGEND are either fully illustrated or cooperatively illustrated by special effects wizard Shinji Higuchi, and are the only cards to display the illustrator name in both English and Japanese.