The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet Part 1: The New Way

Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Paldea, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Scarlet & Violet

Our spotlight series on Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet base set begins today with a breakdown of the changes this era brings to the hobby.

The Scarlet & Violet era of the Pokémon TCG has begun. With Sword & Shield officially concluded, the Scarlet & Violet era kicked off in March 2023 with a focus on the ninth generation of Pokémon games and the new region: Paldea. It all began with Scarlet & Violet base set, which was officially released in the United States on March 31st, 2023. This set introduced major, lasting changes to the hobby. In today’s first installment of this Scarlet & Violet base set spotlight, let’s take a look at those changes.

The biggest and most obvious change was to the borders of the cards. The borders of Pokémon TCG cards in the United States and most international locations aside from Japan and other countries in Asia have been yellow since Base Set. That is over 25 years. Now, the borders of the cards have become silver, matching the Japanese releases. This also means that the holographic rares get holographic borders. Another major change is that now each pack culminates in at least a holo-rare and two reverse holos.

The Ultra Rare mechanic — now called “Double Rare” — switched from the Pokémon-V of the Sword & Shield era to the lowercase ex. These aren’t like the EX cards of the XY era but rather the original ex cards from back in the vintage days. Standard ex cards feature a double holographic pattern of a horizontal shine and a starry sparkle, while Full Arts now use a green, foil outline around the Pokémon.

The next step up from an ex in Scarlet & Violet is the Tera ex. A Tera ex depicts the Pokémon in its Terastal form, which is the temporary transformation from Paldea that makes the Pokémon’s body glisten like gems and can even change its type. These are textured like VMAXes, and the Full Art versions of these feature a white, silvery background with stars and an outline around the Pokémon corresponding to its Tera type.

The Secret Rare section has been changed and expanded in these sets, too. Now the Secret Rare section of expansions going forward features Full Arts, Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rare exs, Full Art Trainers, Special Illustration Rare Trainers, and Gold Hyper Rares. Currently, if a full evolutionary line is featured on a series of Illustration Rares or Special Illustration Rares, the same artist will contribute art for each form.

Stay tuned for the journey through this special set as we continue to spotlight the cards and artwork of Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet. Next time, the spotlight continues with the Galarian Gallery subset. You can read more about this iconic trading card game right here at Bleeding Cool.

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