Battle Partners Booster Box Japanese SV9 | N’s Zoroark ex

The Battle Partners booster box is the Japanese SV9 Pokémon TCG expansion released on January 24, 2025. This set brings back the Trainer’s Pokémon concept, pairing familiar Pokémon with their iconic Trainers and giving the Scarlet & Violet era a distinctive character-driven theme. The official Japanese Pokémon Card Game website confirms the release date and the five-card Japanese pack configuration. View the official Battle Partners SV9 page for the original Japanese product information.

Pokémon and Their Trainers

The central idea behind Battle Partners SV9 is the relationship between Trainers and their Pokémon.

Rather than simply presenting Pokémon independently, the expansion features cards associated with recognizable characters, including N, Lillie, Iono and Hop. This gives the set a strong character-driven identity and makes the artwork particularly interesting for collectors who enjoy the Pokémon Trainer characters as much as the Pokémon themselves.

Among the major Pokémon featured in the expansion are:

• N’s Zoroark ex

• Lillie’s Clefairy ex

• Iono’s Bellibolt ex

• Hop’s Zacian

• Salamence ex

The combination of character-themed cards and Pokémon ex makes SV9 considerably different from a standard Pokémon expansion.

N’s Zoroark ex

One of the headline cards from the Battle Partners Japanese booster box is N’s Zoroark ex.

Zoroark has long been associated with N, making the pairing particularly recognizable to Pokémon fans. The SV9 expansion gives this partnership several rarity treatments, including a premium Special Art Rare version.

Collectors interested in completing the Japanese SV9 checklist can explore the individual cards and rarities through Serebii’s Battle Partners card database, which lists the Japanese release and its card numbers.

Lillie, Iono and Other Trainer Partnerships

N isn’t the only Trainer represented.

Lillie’s Clefairy ex and Iono’s Bellibolt ex are two other major Pokémon ex from the set. Their inclusion gives collectors several character-and-Pokémon combinations to pursue rather than concentrating the entire expansion around a single mascot.

The set also includes Hop’s Zacian, continuing the Trainer’s Pokémon theme with another recognizable character partnership.

These cards are particularly appealing to collectors who enjoy building themed collections around individual Trainers.

Illustration Rare Artwork

Battle Partners also has a substantial selection of higher-rarity artwork.

The set’s Art Rare and Special Art Rare cards showcase Pokémon together with environments and characters connected to their stories, giving the expansion a more narrative visual style.

The premium chase cards include:

• N’s Zoroark ex

• Lillie’s Clefairy ex

• Iono’s Bellibolt ex

• Salamence ex

These are among the cards that make opening a sealed Japanese SV9 display attractive for collectors searching for higher-rarity versions.

A 132-Card Japanese Set

The Japanese Battle Partners checklist contains 132 cards in total, consisting of:

• 100 cards in the numbered main set

• 32 secret cards

This includes the regular Pokémon and Trainer cards as well as the higher-rarity AR, SR, SAR and UR cards.

The relatively broad secret-rarity section gives collectors plenty of potential targets beyond the regular set.

30 Packs in Every Booster Box

A sealed Battle Partners booster box contains:

• 30 Japanese booster packs

• 5 cards per pack

• 150 cards per sealed display

The official Pokémon Card Game website confirms that the Japanese Battle Partners expansion packs contain five randomly inserted cards and that the expansion was released on January 24, 2025.

Because the cards are randomly inserted, purchasing a sealed box does not guarantee a particular Pokémon ex, Illustration Rare, Special Art Rare or Ultra Rare.

Japanese Release With International Significance

Battle Partners is particularly interesting for collectors following both Japanese and international Pokémon TCG releases.

The Japanese SV9 card pool later contributed to the international Journey Together expansion, making SV9 useful for collectors who want to trace the original Japanese versions of cards that later appeared in English-language products. A product-specific SV9 reference also identifies Journey Together as the corresponding international release.

For a Japanese collection, however, this product remains the original SV9 Battle Partners release, with Japanese cards and Japanese packaging.

A Different Kind of Scarlet & Violet Expansion

Where some Pokémon sets are built around a particular Pokémon, mechanic or location, Battle Partners is defined by its characters.

The return of Trainer’s Pokémon gives the expansion a strong identity, while cards such as N’s Zoroark ex and Lillie’s Clefairy ex provide recognizable collector targets.

That makes the Battle Partners booster box a good fit for collectors who enjoy Pokémon character cards, Japanese TCG releases and the higher-rarity artwork found throughout the Scarlet & Violet series.

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PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

The official Pokémon source confirms the five-card pack format and January 24, 2025 release date, while Serebii records the 100-card main set plus 32 secret cards.

VERIFIED WEIGHT & DIMENSIONS

I checked SV9 Battle Partners specifically, rather than copying the measurements from another Pokémon product.

An SV9-specific product listing gives:

Weight: 0.32 kg
Dimensions: 14 × 13.7 × 3.6 cm

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Weight: 0.32 kg
Length: 14 cm
Width: 13.7 cm
Height: 3.6 cm