Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: battle styles, Celebrations, Evolving Skies, pokemon, Pokemon TCG

Pokémon TCG 2021: A Retrospective On The 25th Anniversary

2021 saw the Pokémon TCG celebrate the franchise's landmark 25th Anniversary. Let's take a look back at this transformative year that will certainly be one of the most memorable and chaotic times in the long life of this hobby.

First, the chaos. 2020 saw the rise of scalping in the Pokémon TCG with the crisis hitting a fever pitch in February 2021 with the release of Shining Fates. All through 2021, prices on sealed product remained higher than MSRP and the value of cards from previous sets, especially Sun & Moon era sets, increased. Early 2021 saw a buyout of Full Art Trainer Supporter cards featuring female characters, leading to cards such as the Lillie from Ultra Prism rising, at one point, over $300 USD. While investors loved this, it made the hobby quite difficult for creators. Thankfully, the Pokémon TCG valiantly rose above scalpers by printing and reprinting their sets until shelves were finally filled.

2021 saw the release of more sets than usual. We had four main series sets with Sword & Shield – Battle Styles, Sword & Shield – Chilling Reign, Sword & Shield – Evolving Skies,, and Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike. Battle Styles kicked off a new era of the hobby with the dawn of Alternate Arts, which completely took over the year. 2o21 saw this style of card, which deviates from the standard Full Art format to show Pokémon in special scenes, become the major chase cards of every set available. Major hits of the year included Tyranitar Alt from Battle Styles, Blaziken and the Galarian Birds from Chilling Reign, Umbreon and Rayquaza from Evolving Skies, and the various Mew cards from Fusion Strike. I consider Evolving Skies to be one of the best sets ever printed.

Two special sets were also released, including Shining Fates and Celebrations. Shining Fates included a Shiny Vault subset, matching the format of Hidden Fates by delivering stunning Shiny versions of many Pokémon with major hits including Charizard, Ditto, and Lapras. Celebrations, the 25th Anniversary set, featured an all-holo main set and a subset of reprints called the Classic Collection that featured 25 cards from all eras recreated with textured holofoil.

2021 has left the Pokémon TCG in an incredible place. A year of celebration, beautiful artwork, and amazing cards has made this collector and many others very happy.

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