Top 10 Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon – Crimson Invasion Part 2

Bleeding Cool’s journey through the Sun & Moon era of the Pokémon TCG continues. After our spotlight series breaking down the first three sets of this block (Sun & Moon base, Guardians Rising, Burning Shadows) ended up skipping ahead to the fifth Sun & Moon-era set, Ultra Prism, I’m setting things right by making a trip back to the fourth set from this era. Sun & Moon – Crimson Invasion was released on November 3rd, 2017 and introduced Ultra Beast GXs to the hobby. This was an alternate kind of GX and Full Art that used red coloring to spotlight the Ultra Beasts introduced along with the region of Alola. Crismon Invasion is largely thought to be the least popular set of Sun & Moon era, so let’s determine for ourselves if the set is underrated or if it deserves the lack of love from Pokémon TCG fans. Now that we have spotlighted all of the major cards in the set, I’ve begun to count down my Top 10. I’d love to hear your picks as well, so please chime in with a comment below. Here are my picks for the fifth through first slots.

• 5 – Guzzlord GX Full Art: Sun & Moon-era Full Art GXs can be quite limited due to the style they confirm to. They all use a flat background that matches a Pokémon’s typing and blue foil lineart. The introduction of Ultra Beasts wit red lineart instead of blue switched things up nicely, but it’s the coloring on the actual Pokémon itself that makes Guzzlord stand out from the others in this set. Its bright, blue open maw looks like it is a portal to somewhere very terrifying.
• 5 – Pikachu: Any set with a Pikachu card is better for it, and this is one of the best in recent memory. With storybook-style art and a cheery Pika, one can’t help but smile at this card.
• 3 – Nihilego GX Full Art: One of the most interesting Ultra Beasts, Nihilego’s card here shows that the simplicity of Full Art GXs can actually work in a card’s favor.
• 2 – Lusamine Full Art Trainer: This card ranks high both because of the fact that it and Nihilego build a theme in this set, as Lusamine is obsessed with Ultra Beasts and even goes on to fuse with Nihilego. Her fused state gets a Full Art in the next set, Sun & Moon – Ultra Prism, which is also one of the best pulls in that set. While Crimson Invasion has a weaker Full Art Trainer selection than any other set from this era, this card is the obvious standout.

• 1 – Gyarados GX Rainbow Rare: Due to both its spot as the set’s chase card and the way that the light rainbow color palette but heavy texturing works to make this card dazzle like a diamond when moved around in the light, Gyarados is undoubtedly the pull of Sun & Moon – Crimson Invasion.

Next time, the spotlight on Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon – Crimson Invasion concludes with a complete review. To follow this series, click the Crimson Invasion tag below.