Switch

The Switch card was introduced in the Expedition Base Set, released in 2002 as the first expansion of the e-Card Series. This set marked a significant transition for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, introducing the e-Reader technology which allowed players to scan cards through a Game Boy Advance peripheral to unlock digital data, minigames, or Pokédex entries. As a Trainer card, Switch has remained a staple utility card throughout the game's history, designed to provide a tactical escape mechanism by allowing a player to swap their active Pokémon with one from their bench, thereby preserving a damaged creature or resetting status effects.

The artwork for this particular iteration of the card reflects the distinct visual style of the early 2000s e-Card era, characterized by a clean, minimalist layout designed to accommodate the data-scanning strips along the bottom and side. The card illustrates the fundamental mechanical shift of the game during this period, where gameplay design began to lean more heavily into strategic maneuvering rather than purely offensive combat. While common in rarity, the card was widely collected during the period for its essential role in competitive deck-building, bridging the gap between legacy gameplay and the new digital integration features of the time.