Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Brilliant Stars, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Pull Rate Quest

Pokémon TCG: Brilliant Stars Pull Rate Quest Part Four

Too often, Pokémon TCG influencers will rush to make a sweeping statement about a new set's pull rates. It's going to be interesting to see how the latest set, Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars, is seen because it has a special Trainer Gallery subset consisting of Character Cards, Character Super Rares, Full Art Trainers, and Black and Gold VMAXes that can be pulled in the Reverse Holo slot. This increases the number of pulls that one can expect to get in a Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars opening. In the interest of dispelling the idea that we can establish pull rates so early in a set's existence, I'm here with Pull Rate Quest, a series at Bleeding Cool where I open Pokémon TCG sets to show that you win some… and you lose some. I love the idea that openings like this can help show people what to expect in a set, but remember… a lot of it comes down to the luck of the draw. Let's open another booster box of Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars and see what we can get in this installment of Pull Rate Quest.

Box Breakdown

• Overall number of Holos or above: 13
• Overall number of Ultra Rares or above: 6
• Overall number of Trainer Gallery subset cards: 5

What we got

• Holo Rares: 7
• Pokémon-V: 3
• Pokémon-VMAX: 0
• Pokémon-VSTAR: 0
• Full Art Pokémon: 1
• Alternate Arts: 0
• Full Art Trainers: 1
• Rainbow Rares: 1
• Gold Secret Rares: 0
• Character Cards: 3
• Character Super Rares: 2
• Black and Gold VMAXes: 0

This is a very unusual spread for a Pokémon TCG box. Pulling only three Pokémon-V is something that I rarely see happen and compounding that with a lack of both a VSTAR and VMAX (from the standard set, we're counting Trainer Gallery Character Super Rare VMAXes as different hits as they don't pop in the rare slot) makes for a bizarre spread. However, I'd still count this as one of my strongest boxes. There are two hits here that absolutely make the box: Arceus VSTAR Rainbow Rare and Umbreon V Character Super Rare. Both of these are absolutely stellar hits. Also, while a VSTAR or VMAX would've certainly made this box make more sense, the spread of Full Arts and above (textured cards, essentially) is great. While Barry Full Art is one of the weakest Trainer Supporters, it's still a good hit. Along with Shaymin V Full Art, that makes for three Full Art and above hits. I've gotten boxes with zero! Also notable is the Single Strike Urshiu VMAX CSR which makes for two Character Super Rares in a box where, again, I've had boxes with none. This box, to me, perfectly illustrates how truly random openings can be.

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