“Black Bolt,” “White Flare,” “Heat Wave Arena” Trademarks Filed for the Pokemon TCG: More Evidence of Later “Legends: ZA” Release!

New trademarks for Black Bolt (ブラックボルト), White Flare (ホワイトフレア), and Heat Wave Arena (熱風のアリーナ) have been filed by Pokemon. They’re under the same terms as trademarks used for set names in the past.

We usually discover trademarks around six to eight months before they’re used, so these are likely sets releasing between April and June. For example, Battle Partners releases on January 24th and we discovered its trademark in July.

White Flare and Black Bolt obviously sound like dual sets headlined by Reshiram and Zekrom. They may include the N’s Reshiram cards we saw revealed at Worlds.

Heat Wave is an attack from the games often used by Volcarona. Could Heat Wave Arena be referring to Volcarona, perhaps Alder’s Volcarona ex? Charizard, Pidgeot, Moltres, and Heatran are other Pokemon that naturally learn the move.

All three sets should feature Owner’s Pokemon, which is the TCG’s upcoming mechanic for 2025.

Again, none of these names appear to reference Legends: Z-A or Kalos as we know it. This is more evidence the game will come out later in 2025. Creating sets headlined by Unova’s box Legendaries also seems counterproductive to advertising a Kalos game; it just about “bombs” Z-A coming out anywhere near these sets.

Here’s the upcoming Japanese TCG schedule. Click the links for more information.

• September 13th: Paradise Dragona featuring Dragon Pokemon.
• October 18th: Supercharged Breaker featuring Tera Pikachu ex.
• November 22nd: nine decks called “ex Starter Deck Generations” featuring 18 Pokemon ex. Each deck will feature a Legendary Pokemon from each of the nine generations paired with a Pokemon from its generation.
• December 6th: Terastal Festival featuring Eevee and its Evolutions as Pokemon ex. This will be Japan’s annual “High Class Pack” set.
• January 24th: Battle Partners featuring the return of the Owner’s Pokemon mechanic.
• February 21st: Two decks named “Starter Set ex Steven’s Beldum & Metagross ex” and “Starter Set ex Marnie’s Morpeko & Grimmsnarl ex.”
• March (?): The Glory of Team Rocket featuring Rocket’s Mewtwo ex?
• April (?): Black Bolt and White Flare?
• May: There were no May sets in 2023 and 2024.
• June (?): Heat Wave Arena?

Update (8:30 PM): We originally translated 熱風のアリーナ to “Hot Air Arena,” but “熱風” is used in the video games for Heat Wave’s attack name. Thus, Heat Wave Arena is a more appropriate translation.