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

Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet Part 41: Illustration Rares

What exactly are Illustration Rares? Let's take a look at the origin of these Secret Rare cards from the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet era.

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. 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. 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. In today's installment of this Scarlet & Violet base set spotlight, we move to the Secret Rare section of the set.

We will do spotlight pieces on all of these cards, but first, let's cover what exactly an Illustration Rare is. These cards are the new versions of Alternate Arts and Character Rares. Alternate Arts were like textured Full Arts with a more illustrative image, while Character Rares were foil cards with no texture that showcased a moment between a Pokémon and its trainer. Illustration Rares, called Art Rares in Japan, debuted in Crown Zenith and are now one of the main Secret Rares throughout the Scarlet & Violet era. Like Character Rares, they have no texture but like Alternate Arts, they mostly just feature the Pokémon. The twist here is that these cards show the Pokémon, according to TPCI, "in their environment." For a species like Ralts, that is in someone's home. For Riolu, it's working out. For Dondozo, it's the ocean. These cards can be pulled in one of the reverse holo slots, which ups the number of hits you can get per booster box much in the same way we saw with the Trainer Gallery subset of Character Rares in the final year of Sword & Shield.

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 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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