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

Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Obsidian Flames Part 30: Scizor Illustration

New artist Oku debuts in the Pokémon TCG with a Scizor Illustration Rare from summer 2023's 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 Illustration Rares.

Scizor features in a badass, painterly Illustration Rare that shows a pair of Scizor in what seems like combat… or perhaps interpretative dance? This card, painted with the red light of dusk, is illustrated by Oku. This is Oku's very first card in the hobby. After this card, Oku went on to draw the Orbeetle, Wimpod Illustration Rare, and Golisopod ex Special Illustratration Rare from Scarlet & Violet – Paradox Rift. Judging by the sheer quality of this Scizor card and the subsequent credits, I would guess that we will see quite a bit more from this new artist in future expansions. I love this style, which is a picture of hand-drawn lines and painterly coloring, which excites me as it stands out from many of the rest of the styles we see within the Pokémon TCG.

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 Secret Rare section of the set. You can read more about this iconic trading card game right here at Bleeding Cool.

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