The BEST and WORST of Scarlet & Violet (Pokémon TCG Review)

The Scarlet and Violet era ran from March 31st, 2023 to July 18th, 2025. And it was a bumpy ride, but in a good way, like those rumble strips on the highway your girlfriend always swerves over by accident. Wait. Thing is, it wasn't really Scarlet and Violet's fault. It was more about timing. Because this era sat smack in the middle of two of the biggest booms the Pokémon TCG had ever seen. On one side, it was still reeling from the hangover of the 2020 pandemic fueled explosion in popularity. Demand had gone to the moon. The Pokémon Company took note and then proceeded to print the first few Scarlet and Violet sets into oblivion. An overabundance of product, plus the fact that we all instinctively hate new things, meant the reception was lukewarm. But more on that in a bit, because by the time Scarlet and Violet wrapped up, things had flipped. Thanks to the Pokémon TCG pocket inspired frenzy, demand was back and stronger than ever. Put it all together, and Scarlet and Violet just might be the most fascinating era in the history of the Pokémon TCG. So, let's talk about the highs, the lows, and the hidden secrets of what became the game's most controversial era to date. >> Started with a disagreement over trading cards. >> After the absolute banger of an era that was Sword and Shield, Scarlet and Violet came in hot too with some, well, bangers of its own, like Claer, Scovilian, and Terranula. Wait, who the are these Pokémon? No, but seriously, this is a real problem with every new generation's first set. The Pokemon are brand new, unfamiliar, and let's be honest, kind of unsettling. And that's a big reason why these sets tend to underperform. Scarlet and Violet Base was no exception. In fact, it kind of proved the rule. And I wasn't kidding about Sword and Shield earlier. People loved that era. It ended on Crown Zenith, the set with the most generous pull rates of all time, and somehow made everyone forget about the emotional trauma that was evolving Cries Skies. But here's the thing. Only a few years later, people have started to come around on Scarlet and Violet Face, and that's because there are actually some real gems here. The illustration rares are pretty stacked. You've got Wiglett, Dondo, Riolu. Yeah, even a few Gen 9 Pokémon make the cut because their artwork is genuinely really good. And then there's that Drowsy. You probably remember it. Everyone lost their minds over it for like 3 days straight. Now, as for the full arts, we have >> boring. I mean, yeah, they're generally pretty forgettable, but the Gardevoir, that one's actually pretty nice. When it comes to the special illustration rares, I'll admit this set doesn't exactly deliver. And it doesn't help that the two generation headliners are bikes. Yep, the legendary Pokémon are motorcycles. Cool. There is, however, our first of many examples of connecting artwork. This Terrarant might look like he's about to be Scyther's dinner, but if you complete the artwork with Spidey Ops X, you'll see that it was all a clever ruse all along. And yeah, that say there probably is dinner. You know, in Pokemon lore, they actually do eat each other. Yikes. Okay, so for all of this set's ups and downs, there is one major saving grace, and it's Gardevoir. Because when you pair her with her two pre-evolutions, Ralt and Curia, you get one of the most touching stories the TCG has ever told. It starts with a Ralt helping a couple move into their new home, evolves into Curia caring for their newborn baby, and finally becomes Gardevoir supporting the couple as they grow old together. It's subtle, it's sweet, and it's the kind of emotional storytelling that really does elevate the entire set. This evolution line alone makes Scarlet and Violet base worth revisiting, and I have no doubt that it'll age well. Released on June 9th, 2023, Pala Evolved tiptoed in the front door and out the back door with barely anybody noticing. At least if you were a collector. Competitive players, not so lucky. This was the first set to feature the full Gen 9 starter lines. Buo, Quaxley, and Spriotito. And say what you will about the Fire Croc and Duck Boy, but Sprigotito, that's a cute Pokemon. And for what it's worth, this set is huge. We're talking 36 illustration rares and 15 special illustration rares, compared to just 24 and 9, respectively, in Scarlet and Violet Base. And something they started in the Scarlet Violet base set really comes to light here. For the first time pretty much ever, the Pokémon Company is really starting to mix up their art styles. We've got the watercolor as Caracross and Pyro, an abstract Excalibur line, and a dreamlike Magikarp that's over $2,000. People must be smoking whatever that Magikarp got a hold of because good lord is that an expensive piece of cardboard. Beyond the art styles, this set also continues another trend from the base set, storytelling through evolutions. The Meowcado line grows up alongside a little sapling they plant. Adorable. Skeletor gets better and better at helping out with groceries, and Quakabal spent his entire life perfecting his hairo. Worth it. Now, Pala Evolved didn't set the world on fire when it launched, but over time, collectors have warmed up to it. It's a sleeper. One of those releases that sneaks up on you later and makes you say, "Wait, that was in this set?" Oh, yeah. And bonus points if you can spot the pseudo in this artwork. See it yet? Yeah, there he is. And did you notice the Gyarados hanging out in the background of the Magikarp? Maybe that's why it's $2,000. H. What do you think, Verigraph? >> Totally, dude. >> Now, we make our way to August 11th, 2023 with the release of Obsidian Flames. Finally, a set people could get excited about because what could any reference to fire lead to other than our favorite fire breathing lizard? With the Scarlet and Violet era marking a very noticeable downtick in sales, the Pokemon Company naturally went back to the bottomless well of wait, what is that? Okay, now seems like as good a time as any to mention the gimmick, I mean mechanic [music] of the Scarlet and Violet era, Terrailization. In the video games, this replaced Gigantamax and Dynamax from Sword and Shield as a way to give players a new way to temporarily boost their Pokemon mid battle. typically involving a change in attribute and move set. This translated over to the card game with a similar change in typing and the static ability to be invulnerable while on the bench. Cool. Okay, but what about visually? V-Max cards just superersized everything. But this actually changed what the Pokémon looks like, giving them a crystalline reflective pattern from head to claw. Oh yeah, and a [music] fun hat. Beauty of course is in the eye of the beholder. And I'd say these are uh ugly as. Okay, so the defiled look of many fan favorite Pokémon, plus the fact that this set was downright tiny with only 12 illustration rares and six special illustration rares meant that Obsidian Flames didn't really live up to the hype of being a true Charizard set. There are some real bangers though, starting with Bloom and Ninetales. And this Pidgey outline also really does do it for me. Oh yeah, and these two also pair together to make one of the best decks in the TCG. So that's cool, too. Thankfully, the slight disappointment that was Obsidian Flames didn't last long because shortly thereafter on September 22nd, 2023, we were all collectively blessed by the release of Scarlet and Violet 151. Now, I could go on for hours about what a masterpiece of a set this was. For the first time ever, each of the 151 Kanto Pokémon had a set all to themselves in Pokedex order, no less. For anyone getting back into the hobby, I can think of no single better place to start. Each of the starters has its own evolution line of illustration rares that when viewed together once again tell a story. From Charmander slowly making its way up this canyon until finally being able to soar above it to a Squirtle playing on a beach and ultimately exploring the deep blue ocean and Bulbasaur playing in more and more colorful grass. Yeah, it might not be the most epic story ever, but this art is gorgeous. In total, we have 16 illustration rares, seven special illustration rares, and of note, a gold Mew. The only thing that could have made the set better would have been S versions of each legendary bird, but we kind of got that with Zapdos, so I'll let it slide. We did, however, get an official cameo of my two favorite Poke Tubers in Poke Chloe and Pokey Dean on this Pikachu illustration rare. Their names are even credited at the bottom of the card. Also pretty cool is a little Easter egg found in the regular version of Charmander. You might ask, what is Charmander looking back at other than that fine booty? Well, it turns out there's a Charizard flying overhead. Pretty neat. Okay, one more thing and then I promise we'll move on. A quick note on pull rates. Up until this point, Scarlet and Violet pull rates were more or less standardized. About 1 in 12 for an illustration rare, 1 in 16 for an ultra rare, also known as full art, one in 90 for a special illustration rare, and 1 in 144 for a hyper rare, also known as a gold card. But 151 is a special set, meaning it doesn't fall in line with the typical set release structure and unfortunately isn't available in booster boxes. Of note, however, the Pokemon Company sometimes switches things up when it comes to pull rates and special sets. In this case, pretty much everything is the same except SS and gold rares about triple their odds, coming in at 1 in 32 packs and one in 50 packs, respectively, making this one of the most fun sets to open in all of Scarlet and Violet. >> The Charmander is Moving on, as promised, we now find ourselves on November 3rd, 2023 with the release of Paradox Rift. This set switched things up a bit with one of the more novel twists that we've seen in the Pokémon TCG in years. The introduction of ancient and future Pokémon. Mechanically, they're not too different from standard cards. Mainly just new tags that let them interact with certain items and trainers. But visually, these cards come with their own completely unique frames, and the designs are a serious departure from anything we've seen before. Each one is essentially a reimagined version of existing Pokémon, warped by time. The ancient Pokémon take a prehistoric spin on things, while the future variants, well, let's just say the design team had used up most of their creative juices before getting to them. Ancient forms include Scream Tail for Jigglypuff, Slither Wings for Vcarona, Roaring Moon for Salamaments, Sandy Shocks for Magneton, plus a few others. Honestly, these are great. They're unique, and they're at times bizarre type shifts are pretty fun. It is too bad the future variants didn't get quite the same level of love. Unless your jam is coding everything in iron. In that case, you'll love these, too. In terms of size, this set is also quite large with 34 illustration rares and 15 special illustration rares. A few IRS that stand out to me are an extremely vibrant toad scroll, a really cute Mantike, and a super swirly gvel. Oh yeah, and this Groudon that everyone goes nuts over. It's pretty cool, too. Now, when it comes to sirs, I'll be honest, this set is a little hit or miss. We have a nicely stylized Taboo Coco and a Garchomp that would be great if it weren't sparkly and wearing what looks like a birthday hat. Just saying. By far my personal favorite and a bit of an Easter egg in here is the Swablau illustration rare. It shows our little cloud BB chilling with a group of Wingles who then evolves into an Altaria soaring alongside the very same flock. Super cute. For connecting artwork, we have the evolution duo of Gimme Ghoul and Goldeno that together strike a killer father-son pose. Not necessarily connecting, but these Plusle and Minan were clearly rooting for opposite teams. And last, but not least, the colors in this parasol lady are pretty incredible looking as well. Now, we're moving into 2024 with the January 26 release of Palian Fates. Like Shining Fates and Hidden Fates before it, this set is focused on shiny Pokémon. An absolutely unreal 135 of them with 120 standard shinies, 12 full arts, and three special illustration rares. But before we get to all of that, this set introduces us to a brand new rarity symbol. So, now is as good a time as any to explain how Scarlet and Violet overhauled Pokemon's notoriously confusing rarity system. See, before this, and for a very long time, actually, there really was no rarity system. [music] I mean, there was, but it didn't make a ton of sense. Just about everything that wasn't a base rarity, like commons, uncommons, and rares, was left with a foil white star. That meant a big pull, like a V-Max alt art, had an identical symbol to a card that barely broke a dollar. For example, these two versions of Gengar V-Max would confuse anyone that didn't know exactly what to look for. Thankfully, Scarlet and Violet cleaned this up. Now, we have our base rarities of common, uncommon, rare, and double rare. Then, we have secret rares, which are fancier versions of cards in the main set. This includes two white stars for ultra rares, a gold star for illustration rares, two gold stars for special illustration rares, and three gold stars for hyper rares. And now [music] with Palan Fates, we have a few additions. An outlined gold star for basic shinies, two outlined white stars for ultra rare shinies, and for special illustration rare shinies, those are still the two gold stars from before. Okay, it's not perfect, but this system is so much better than it used to be. Ironically, it's these slightly confusing special illustration rares that really bring this at home. We have another Charizard ruined by Terasilization. Nothing new there. But we were also given one of the cutest new artworks of all time. That's going for oh my god. And last but not least is my personal favorite artwork of the entire Scarlet and Violet era. The special illustration rare Guard of Art EX. Those colors, that style, and being one of the strongest Pokémon in the TCG really make this card an alltimer. Arriving on March 22nd, 2024, we got the follow-up to Paradox Rift in Temporal Forces. It brought back the ancient and future mechanics we had just gotten to know, but this time everything got turned up a notch. I'll just put this out there. Temporal Forces kind of knocks its predecessor out of the water. There are so many cool things about this set that it's kind of hard to know where to begin. So, naturally, we'll start with something not so cool. Ace Specs cards are back. These pretty and pink trainer cards are throwbacks to the black and white era, and they're a big deal for competitive players. Each ace pack is a superpowered item card, and you're only allowed one per deck. Problem is, if yours gets stuck in the prize card zone at the beginning of the game, you're just kind of screwed. But hey, at least they got a rarity upgrade from the iconic and ubiquitous hollow star to a much more sensible pink one. All right, now let's talk about what actually make this set pretty awesome. First up, the sir versions of re-imagined legendary beasts. We've got gouging fire for Ente, walking weight for Suicun, and Raging Bolt for Raichu. I think these names are actually pretty sick, and the artwork is completely out there. Ent looks like a slightly extra version of himself, while Walking Wake got the Dino Raptor treatment, and Raging Bolt got the uh [music] is a cloud. Pretty cool. But what really takes this set to the next level are the Easter eggs hidden in the illustration rares and special illustration rares. First, we have the Salvatore sir. The art for which could be discussed for hours, but the main thing I want to point out here are the original sprite designs for Rydon and Clefairy from Pokemon Red and Blue on the tapestry in the upper left. Seriously [music] though, just spend five or so minutes looking at this artwork. Tetsu Coyama really went all out here. Next are not necessarily Easter eggs. We'll get back to those later, but some awesome storytelling in the Menchino and Cino line. I guess learning how to clean up after yourself will earn you a few friends. Maybe I should try that. The deerling and Salsbuck make an incredible panorama. The Gastley's hanging out with the whole fam. [music] And this shift tree looks downright menacing. But back to Easter eggs. And this one is by far the best of the entire era. The chatout illustration rare might look innocuous enough. But you might notice that the clothes lines they're sitting on look a bit like a music sheet, while the flags and ribbons are the treble cliffs. If you play the top bar, you'll get Chatot's in-game cry, while the bottom one is the Pokemon Center Jingle. This is just way too clever for me. So, if you're into something a little more literal, here are some actual Easter eggs that Lick Tongue is making. [music] Uh, I guess it's up for interpretation. Okay, it'll be hard to follow all of that up, but let's see what our May 24th, 2024 release of Twilight Masquerade can say about it. This set revolves around the four masked forms of Ogre Pun, which kind of dominate the set's full art and illustration rare lineup. So, it's a love it or hate it kind of thing. In terms of size, it's on the smaller side. 21 illustration rares and 11 special illustration rares. There's not a ton to highlight here, aside from the return of a few scattered ancient and future Pokémon, some apexs, and a handful of cards that genuinely do look quite nice. For illustration rares, we have a fan favorite Infernape, a super adorable Chansancy, and who could have guessed it, a very popular Eevee. And last, but not least, there's a pretty cute Manife. Although, someone at the Pokémon Company might want to double check the spelling on that one. As for the sirs, there's really nothing too groundbreaking here, but the community has seemed to have chosen its champion, Greninja. I guess the abstract and super colorful artwork distracted people enough from Greninja's terraelized skin and weird hat. Huh, there's a really cute duo with Parn having a photo shoot with her Growlith. And I hope that Blood Moon Ursula doesn't turn around to see Dessert standing right behind it. Shouldn't they be running? Now moving on to Stellar Crown, which released in Wait, who said that? >> What? I missed one. All right, how could I? Shrouded Fable released on August 2nd, 2024, was forgettable. Competitive players did get Fezendipity EX as well as a few more Aspects. But as for the IRS and SS, well, you can see for yourself. I'm not even going to pretend to know who these Pokémon are in the special illustration slot or who this lone trainer is, but hey, at least their art style matches. [music] Other than that, we've got 15 illustration rares, which are a little lacking as well with a few exceptions. First being this Persian that is most certainly staring out the window of Giovani's $8 million penthouse. And then we have the Dusknar line, which is creepily following you home. First in the street, [music] then in your backyard, and then patiently waiting at your living room door. I don't know about you though, but I'd much rather deal with that duskar than whatever the hell this thing is. Other than that, there's really not much to say here. Shrouded Fable kind of feels like the dream you had right before you woke up that fades your memory before lunchtime. On September 13th, 2024, Stellar Crown then swooped in to save the day from the shrouded fable slump. Wait, [music] what? The set was boring, too. Oh, boy. Similar to its predecessor, Stellar Crown was a fairly small set, but that's not why it didn't get the best reviews. It's not about how big it is, but how you use it, [music] right? And this set used it uh just okay. We've got a sparse 13 illustration rares, the clear standouts of which are the Squirtle and Bulbasaur. Unfortunately, Charmanders had this one out as it was already used as the ETB promo for Obsidian Flames. Other than that, we've got six special illustration rares where Dash Pun is the clear winner. So, yeah, Stellar Crown wasn't bad. It just wasn't much. But these past two sets, [music] Shrouded Fable and Stellar Crown, they were the calm before the storm because what happened next would completely change the course of the Pokémon TCG as a whole. All it would take was a little spark. >> Pikachu. November 8th, 2024. Surging Sparks hits shelves, [music] and with it, everything changes. On the surface, this set doesn't seem all that different. You've got 23 IRS, 11 sirs, and Pikachu as the headliner. It's not the biggest set, not the flashiest, and the giant Pikachu booty wasn't necessarily what made it so special, because what really lit the fuse wasn't the cards at all. Instead, it was the release of Pokémon TCG Pocket [music] just 9 days earlier on October 30th, 2024. And this mobile app absolutely detonated the hobby. Now, there were people who thought Pocket would cannibalize the physical card game. Why buy booster packs when you can scratch that itch digitally? Right? Wrong. What actually happened was the exact opposite. Millions of new players downloaded the app, got hooked on the thrill of card openings, and then realized they wanted to hold the real thing, too. And just like that, demand for physical product exploded. Which brings us back to Surging Sparks. And yeah, it did have some gorgeous cards. I'll definitely give it that. For illustration rares, we have an execute trying its hand at the world of sports, a sunny cast form hanging out with his assortment of elemental friends, and the majestic Alolan Doug trio. As for special illustration rares, we actually do have some bangers. There's the bastardized I mean terasized Pikachu, which for some ungodly reason is everyone's favorite. But that doesn't take away from this Latas or my personal favorite, the insanely gorgeous melodic. Oh, and there's also this Durant that goes infinite with itself. Someone somewhere definitely cares about that. This is absolutely a cool set despite the appearance of its namesake, but I can assure you we would not be seeing these boxes nearly doubling in price because it contained an SIR building. No, TCG Pocket propelled this set and pretty much everything that came after it to heights we have literally never seen before and hopefully we'll never see again because things were about to get even crazier. It's January 17th, 2025, and now let's play a little game I like to call, what the was the Pokémon Company thinking? Because Prismatic Evolutions, for all its jaw-dropping highs, is also one of the most frustrating sets in the entire Scarlet and Violet era. Let's start with the most obvious question. Where are the illustration rares? Seriously, this is the only set in the entire era that completely ditches the rarity tier that bridges the gap between standard hits and the premium chase cards gone. Just missing. Question two, why are all 12 full arts trainer cards? No evolution EX full arts, no fun mid-tier pulls, just a dozen trainers that are kind of looking at you funny. It was a baffling decision, especially in a set headlined by nine of the most popular Pokémon in the entire franchise. Question three, what is going on with these pull rates? Yes, they technically improved from the usual one in 90 to 1 in 45 for special illustration rares, but when you have 32 sirs and nine evolutions to chase, that still means opening around 1,400 packs to statistically hit a specific one. All of this combined to make Prismatic Evolutions one of the worst pack opening experiences in Pokémon TCG history. Okay, now that we've screamed that into the void, let's talk about why this set still matters. Because there's a lot to like here, as long as you're not trying to rip packs, that is. At the center of it all are the nine evolution sirs. Yes, they're all terraasized. Yes, they have glittery crystal skin. And of course, the hats are still ridiculous. But despite all of it, the artwork is gorgeous. And given the price tags, most people tend to agree. But it's not just the evolutions. We also have Roaring Moon, Serial Edge, and Raging Bolt. All of which look pretty sweet. And now for a sizzling hot take. The Pokeball and Master Ball Hollows in this set, underrated masterpieces. They're not necessarily the chase cards, and counting the Pokeballs, they're not even that rare, but the textured foil patterns, the vibrant colors, and the way they pop in person, honestly, they feel more premium than half of the IRS we've covered so far. Unfortunately, however, when it comes to actually getting your hands on these, good luck. Like 151, Prismatic Evolutions is a special set, meaning no booster boxes, just ETBs, collection boxes, and every kind of oversized, awkward packaging you can think of. So, if we thought Searching Sparks was hard to find on shelves, Prismatic Evolutions was on an entirely different level. All right, and did I mention there are full-on god packs? This technically started in English releases with 151 where you could get a demigod pack of a starter full evolution line, but here you get every single SIR evolution. Given the prices of these cards, that's like hitting the Poke lottery. The odds of a God pack are about one in 2,000. So, not easy by any means, but not unheard of either. >> Math break. >> If the cards in a God pack are worth about $3,000 and the odds are one in 2,000, that possibility alone adds a $1.50 50 in expected value to each booster pack. So, it's actually not too hard to understand why these packs were priced so far above MSRP, even at launch. >> Math break over. >> One thing we're starting to see here, and that will really hit home a bit later, is that the number of hits in a set does actually correlate to the price of packs and how valuable the boxes will be long term. So, keep an eye out for that. Just a few months later on March 28th, 2025, we got Journey together. And honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time. After the overhyped chaos of Prismatic Evolutions, this set felt like a breath of fresh air. The return of illustration rares, non-trainer full arts, and no one in400 sir night nightmares. Just a smaller, emotionally resonant release that reminded us what makes the Pokémon TCG so much fun to collect in the first place. At just 11 IRS and six sirs, Journey Together is tiny, especially by Scarlet and Violet standards, but it punches way above its weight class. For longtime fans, the big hook was the return of trainers Pokémon, something we hadn't seen in the TCG for over 20 years. And for many of us, these cards were the highlight of the set. They even took the standard full art template, which, let's be honest, can feel a little stale, and gave it personality. These aren't just trainers or Pokémon standing in front of a background. They're trainers and Pokémon standing in front of a background, which, let's be honest, is much better. Then there are the illustration rares, which are all hits. Seriously, there's not a bad one in the bunch. Yeah, even you're cute too, my little cactus friend. Some of my favorites include Iono's Kilawattrol with beautiful artwork and ultra vibrant colors and an N's rash that looks absolutely majestic. Then you have the special illustration rares, which get even better. A lot of people are into the Salamaments, which has some undeniably gorgeous artwork, but for me, it's once again all about the trainers Pokémon. They're more expressive, more dynamic, and they just feel special, like something you don't get to see every set. It's Pokémon and Trainers in motion, [music] in context, in story. It's like watching a still frame from the anime, but on shiny cardboard. Journey Together didn't come with insane pull rates or market shattering hype. And honestly, that's what made it so refreshing. It was easier to find, relatively speaking. The chase cards weren't ridiculously expensive, and almost everything you pulled felt satisfying. In other words, it was the right set at the right time. I hope we were all able to enjoy ourselves for a minute there, because on May 30th, 2025, with the release of Destin Rivals, you can go ahead and throw everything I just said right out the window. The level of hype for this set was out of this world. It was, after all, the spiritual successor to two of the greatest sets of all time, Team Rocket and Team Rocket Returns. So, it wasn't too much of a surprise when boxes started selling for nearly double MSRP. Wait, no, that's still insane. I'm all for doing what you want with your money, but my lord, is that a lot to spend on a brand new box of trading cards. As for the set itself, it is on the larger side, [music] coming in at 23 illustration rares and 11 special illustration rares. The cartoon-like appearance of Team Rocket's characters on some cards wasn't everybody's favorite, but there was still some seriously gorgeous artwork to be found. For IRS, we have a personal favorite in Cynthia's Roserade, a really cute Shaman and a pretty sick Blazakin. Yeah, don't worry. I wasn't going to leave out the real heavy hitters of Misti Psyduck or Misty's Lapras either. No, it's not Misty's tears, but for all the Misti stands out there, this is probably as close as we're going to get in the modern era. The full arts tier also deserve an honorable mention because similar to journey together, the trainers aspect gives them a ton more depth and in my opinion collectibility. The s then kick it up a notch with some breathtaking trainers cards in Rocket's Moltrace, Cynthia's Garchomp, and of course, [music] Team Rocket's Mewtwo. The others aren't too bad either. Still, not everyone was fully satisfied. Some fans were really hoping for the return of Dark Pokémon, but no DICE, and somehow there's no Jesse and James card. I don't care if they're out of the anime or not. That's a missed opportunity if I've ever seen one. [music] All of that somehow brings us to July 18th, 2025 with the release of the Scarlet and Violet era's final set, or should I say sets, because for the first time ever, the international release matches the Japanese release in their two small set structure. That wasn't the only thing different about Black Bolt and White Flare. There's actually a number of things going on here that make this set one of the strangest of all time. I made a separate video about this specifically, but here are the highlights. Following the path of 151, this two set combo features every single Gen 5 Pokémon. Not only that, each and everyone was given either the SI or IR treatment. That's a total of 144 illustration rares and 12 special illustration rares with two additional SI trainers. 14 sirs isn't too crazy, but 144 illustration rares absolutely is. And they weren't done there. As a brilliant call back to the original black and white era, the Pokémon Company created a brand new rarity with monochrome versions of Rushy, Ram, and Zechrom depicted by a black and white pair of stars at the bottom of the card. These sets were split up equally so that half of the Pokémon could be found in White Flare and the other half in Black Bolt with the odd caveat that a third monochrome variant Victini could be found in both sets with different set numbers. Given that this is once again a special set, pull rates were improved to help offset the sheer number of illustration rares coming in at 1 in six packs or twice as likely. But that's about where the generosity ends because pull rates for the monochrome rares are estimated to be somewhere between 1 and 400 and 500 packs. If you do the math here, it turns out that the odds of pulling any individual illustration rare, special illustration rare, or monochrome rare are about the same. And I just find it pretty hilarious that a ducklet is literally as rare as the monochrome Zechrome. Obviously, there are too many illustration rares to go through them all here, so I'll just let them scroll by. One of my favorite parts about this set is that since every Pokemon got the IR or SIR treatment, every evolution line is fully represented with gorgeous artwork. It always bothered me that a Pokemon line like Gengar got an illustration for Gastly, but none for Haunter or Gengar itself. Yeah, Haunter and Gastly are in the artwork, but you know what I mean. I should also mention here that the Pokémon Company once again blessed us with Pokeball and Masterball Hollows, but these unfortunately are not the same variety that came in Prismatic Evolutions. In fact, they look kind of plasticky and seem more like an afterthought than anything else. As for special illustration rares, they really did a great job here with very few misses. There was clearly a lot of energy given to both the Rasher Ram and Zechrom, making them both the S and Monochrome chase cards. Overall, this was a really amazing way to send off the Scarlet and Violet era, which I do think will be remembered as an alltimer. Believe it or not, this is part 12 of a 12-part series. I just uh haven't gotten around to making parts one through 11 yet. So, if you'd like to see more retrospectives like this one, be sure to subscribe to the channel. And in the meantime, check out this video next, where you'll actually get to see my face. Spooky.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was a wild ride... let's talk about it. Become a channel member to get my $20 Google Sheets budget template I use for TCG spending (and everything else), livestream replays, and my eternal gratitude! https://www.youtube.com/@CollectorsCorner-TCG/membership My favorite pickups for the weekend (affiliate links support the channel!): Mega Charizard UPC: https://partner.tcgplayer.com/OegnXA Phantasmal Flames Box: https://partner.tcgplayer.com/gO2a3B Mega Evolutions Box: https://partner.tcgplayer.com/LKVnz3 👉 If you LIKED this video, you will LOVE this one (The True TCG Grails): https://youtu.be/zSh6tzhST8g?si=7Jl7k7pR0NDs6JBr ✉️ Reach out to me directly at CollectorsCornerTCG@Yahoo.com! Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:09 Scarlet & Violet Base 3:34 Paldea Evolved 5:19 Obsidian Flames 6:52 151 9:08 Paradox Rift 11:16 Paldean Fates 13:23 Temporal Forces 16:00 Twilight Masquerade 17:13 Shrouded Fable 18:28 Stellar Crown 19:32 Surging Sparks 21:34 Prismatic Evolutions 25:00 Journey Together 27:04 Destined Rivals 28:52 Black Bolt & White Flare 31:38 Part 12 of 12 #Pokemon #PokemonTCG #PokemonCards