Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Astral Radiance, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Sword & Shield

Pokémon TCG: Astral Radiance Booster Box Early Opening

Today is a special day, Pokémon TCG collectors. Today, I'm giving you an early look at the next Pokémon TCG expansion, Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance. Courtesy of The Pokémon Company International, I have a booster box and an Elite Trainer Box to open so we can experience this brand new set together. First, let's crack open the booster box.

Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance is largely focused on the Hisui region that initially debuted in the open-world RPG, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Hisui is actually an ancient version of Sinnoh where some species appear differently or evolve into alternate forms. The set mascots are the new region-based evolutions of the Starters from the game including Hisuian Samurott, Hisuian Decidueye, and Hisuian Typhlosion along with Origin Forme Palkia and Origin Forme Dialga.

Now, we do have an idea of what this set has to offer, as we know it pulls cards from the Japanese sets Battle Region, Time Gazer, and Space Juggler. As I write this intro, I have yet to peek at the card list, but the box art gives a heavy indication of what cards are included. The card I'm most after? It features the Pokémon pictured on the side of the box art.

Hisuian Typhlosion! I'm a big Typhlosion fan, as I chose Cynaquil back when I played Pokémon Gold as a kid, and I think the new Psychic-type Hisuian variant is absolutely amazing. The cards featuring this Pokémon include a V, a VSTAR, a Full Art V, and a Rainbow Rare VSTAR. My hope for this box? Any one of those. So let's crack it open.

First, let me say… this was an absolutely insane opening. I open a lot of Pokémon TCG booster boxes, with an average between twelve and fifteen per set. This is my hobby of choice, after all. Because of those high numbers, I've experienced just about every box you can imagine. I've opened disappointing boxes and I've opened incredible boxes. There are some qualities that an expansion can have that gives a set a major boost, but I'll say this… when I open a box, I acknowledge that pull rates are largely random and I'm prepared for anything.

This box was among the best I've opened. This is partly luck and partly because Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance has a subset of cards that can be pulled in the reverse holo slot… and partly because of a theory I have, which I'll get into in a bit.

When it comes to Pokémon-V and holo-rares, I pulled pretty well. I ended up with seven holo-rares, which is good because the more of those you pull, the more rare slots won't be filled with something of a greater rarity. My favorite of these was the Hisuian Lilligant, which is just an adorable new version of this Pokémon. This set also includes Ultra Rare Lilligant cards, which I hope to get in my next opening.

I got four Pokémon-V, which is less than usual… but that's because those slots were taken by cards of higher rarity, which I'm completely thrilled about. The V included Beedrill, Luxray, new species Hisuian Sneasler, and set mascot Origin Forme Dialga V. Let's get into the big hitters.

I mean, come on! To me, a box that offers either a Full Art and a Secret Rare or Two Full Arts is a pretty good box. That's a no complaints kind of box. However, pulling a Full Art and two Secret Rares makes this an absolutely incredible box. With no guarantee for a Secret Rare, pulling two is such a nice surprise.

Before those, though, let's take a look at that first row. I pulled Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR, which is one of the set mascots. Then, Heatran VMAX is one of the two VMAXes available in the set, which I was quite happy to pull as well. VSTAR and VMAX are of the same level of rarity, which is greater than a standard V but not as rare as a Full Art. Generally, you can expect between two and zero of these cards per box, so again — terrific opening.

I got two copies of my first-ever Radiant Pokémon with Heatran. Radiant Pokémon are cards that depict a species in its Shiny form, with the actual figure itself rendered in etched foil much like the old school Shining cards. What makes this different is that there is a reverse holo pattern that travels through the entire card. This is a card you have to see in person as, much like Amazing Rares, the digital artwork previewed online does this card type no justice.

The biggest wins of the box are on the second row of that picture. I pulled a Full Art Beedrill V, the Hisuian Typhlosion VSTAR (yesss, my chase card!), and a Gold Secret Rare Jubilee Village which gleams terrifically with fine art on etched foil. If I had to pull one of my Typhlosion hits and one alone, I'm so glad that it was this highly coveted Rainbow Rare version.

Note that Radiant Pokémon can be found in the Reverse Holo slot. At first, I was concerned to see this as I love the Trainer Gallery subset, which can also be found in the Reverse Holo slot. It felt very much like the presence of these Radiant Cards did not decrease my Trainer Gallery pull rate, though.

I noted during my Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars opening that you can generally expect three to five Trainer Gallery hits in a booster box. With four Trainer Gallery hits in this Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance, my theory (which is not yet confirmed) is that Radiant Pokémon do not take away from the number of Trainer Gallery hits in a box.

This time around, I pulled three Character Rares (Gallade, Mightyena, and Bronzor, the latter of which is one of the best-looking cards in the set), and a Gold & Black Secret Rare Calyrex VMAX. That means that the Trainer Gallery subset has made this a three Secret Rare booster box!

My Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance opening series begins with a bang. Thanks again to The Pokémon Company and stay tuned to Bleeding Cool as I begin my Pull Rate Quest series to show our readers more of what they can expect from this exciting new set.

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