Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Legendary Treasures, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Radiant Collection

A Holographic History Of The Pokémon TCG: Radiant Collection

Over the years, the Pokémon TCG has featured many different patterns used on their holographic cards. Some patterns lasted for years, while others had short stays, making them markers for their short time in the franchise. In this next installment of A Holographic History of the Pokémon TCG, let's take a look at a style of card that was used in two different sets with two dramatically different presentations: the Radiant Collection cards.

The Radiant Collection first arrived in the final set of the Black & White era. Black & White – Legendary Treasures was a strong set itself with great artwork on its common cards and two stunning, completely gold Secret Rares featuring Reshiram and Zekrom. The main draw of the set, though, was the Radiant Collection subset. This subset adapted Japan's "Shiny Collection" set of 25 cards into one of the most beautiful collections of Pokémon cards ever printed. Above, you can see the Mew EX from the Radiant Collection. The card is fully foil but instead of the text you'd normally see on a Full Art EX, the card sparkles with a tiny, dotted pattern that resembles glittering jewelry. This holographic style extended through the entire Radiant Collection from Black & White – Legendary Treasures, with the non-Full Arts using a holo bleed style. Take a look at the Pikachu from the subset.

Note, too, that the Radiant Collection cards deviate from the norm by including a full holo bleed on the card and a special foil pattern below the artwork box.

The Radiant Collection would return during the XY era, but with a major change.

The XY special Pokémon TCG set Generations brought back the Radiant Collection, but the sparkling holo pattern was gone. It was instead replaced with a flat foil used on the Full Arts and sparingly used on some of the non-Full Arts in a similar way to the special foil patterns used in Legendary Treasures. You can see the non-patterd Full Art Sylveon EX above. Below this paragraph, check out how the Jirachi has a foil pattern below the art box, but no holographic pattern to the actual foil.

This February 2016 set was the last time that we have seen a Radiant Collection subset in the Pokémon TCG. However, it is notable that the sparkly pattern used in the Black & White – Legendary Treasures collection is very similar to the sparkly pattern used in the Classic Collection reprint subset from Celebrations, the 25th Anniversary set. While many compared this style to the McDonald's promotional holo pattern, it has much more in common with the cards from the first wave of the Radiant Collection.

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