Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: absol, houndoom, Obsidian Flames, pokemon, pokemon cards

Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Obsidian Flames Part 20: Houndoom & Absol Ex

Johto's Houndoom and Hoenn's Absol feature on Pokémon ex cards in summer 2023's Pokémon TCG expansion, Scarlet & Violet - Obsidian Flames.

With Sword & Shield officially concluded, the Scarlet & Violet era of the Pokémon TCG kicked off in March 2023 with a focus on the ninth generation of Pokémon games and the new region: Paldea. It all began with the Scarlet & Violet base set, which introduced major, lasting changes to the hobby. Now, the borders of the cards have become silver, matching the Japanese releases. Another major change is that now, each pack culminates in at least a holo-rare and two reverse holos. The major mechanic of this era is the lowercase ex, which features a double holographic pattern of a horizontal shine and a starry sparkle. Full Art exs now use a green, foil outline around the Pokémon. 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. On August 11, 2023, the Pokémon TCG released the third set of this era, Scarlet & Violet – Obsidian Flames, which introduced Tera Pokémon with a Tera type differing from their base type. The chase card is a Dark-type Tera Charizard ex. In today's installment of this Scarlet & Violet – Obsidian Flames art spotlight, we continue with the Dark-types.

We have two Dark-type ex cards back to back featuring fan favorite species from early generations. Artist PLANETA Tsuji shows this Johto Pokémon breaking free of its card border blazing with flames, which is a nod to its dual typing as a Dark/Fire-type. We then move to Hoenn for an Absol card that uses a more illustrative style than we normally see on this card type. Nisota Niso shows an almost comic book-style Absol scratching through the border, sending a spray of rocks flying. It's nice to see different styles appear on these cards.

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

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