Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: giratina, Lost Origin, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG

Pokémon TCG Early Opening: Lost Origin Elite Trainer Box

It's time for some Sword & Shield – Lost Origin action! Today, we get to crack open an Elite Trainer Box of the next Pokémon TCG expansion, Sword & Shield – Lost Origin before the street date. Thanks to The Pokémon Company International for this opening, which is just the first of many upcoming Lost Origin openings. Let's get into it.

This red, gold, and black beauty is one of the best-looking Pokémon TCG Elite Trainer Boxes of the Sword & Shield era, possibly third after Evolving Skies (the Sylveon version of course!) and Brilliant Stars. I love the focus on Origin Forme Giratina, and the color palette makes it look both beautiful and terrifying.

As far as the contents, anyone who has ever cracked a main series Elite Trainer Box knows what to expect here. We have the storage box, sleeves, the dividers, the damage counters, the VSTAR marker, the Player's Guide, and, of course, eight packs of Sword & Shield – Lost Origin. The packs are of course what everyone wants most, but it's definitely worth keeping and looking through the Player's Guide. This guide not only showcases aspects of gameplay but also has an illustrated checklist of the entire set, revealing exciting details about the Secret Rare section as well as the Trainer Gallery subset. The inclusion of the Black & Gold VMAXes of Pikachu and Mew in this set's Trainer Gallery makes Lost Origin a way more collectible set than I even expected, and I was already a fan of the cards we knew were coming.

My only complaint about the materials remains the sleeves. Until Shining Fates, the Pokémon TCG used a glossy style for their sleeves. This new matte style has fogged the art of the cards, making the sleeves unusable in my opinion, for now ten sets in a row. The Pokémon Center has shifted to matte sleeve backs with glossy sleeve fronts, and I'd love to see the TCG follow with the sleeves in their Elite Trainer Boxes.

Of the eight Sword & Shield – Lost Origin packs that I opened, I was happy to get five strong hits. These hits included:

• Magnezone V
• Radiant Gardevoir: A gorgeous card depicting this iconic character in its Shiny form. Radiant cards can be pulled in the Reverse Holo slot just like Trainer Gallery cards. The activation of the Reverse Holo slot as something we can pull big hits from has enriched three main series sets in a row now, which has made openings even more fun.
• Giratina VSTAR: Man, I was thrilled to get this. I find VSTARs harder to pull than VMAXes and Origin Forme Giratina is the mascot of Sword & Shield – Lost Origin, making this one hell of a hit.
• Arezu Rainbow Rare Trainer Supporter: Damn, a Secret Rare from an ETB is quite a hit. Unlike a booster box where you're essentially guaranteed not a Secret Rare but a good slew of hits, an Elite Trainer Box guarantees virtually nothing. To pull a Secret Rare is one hell of a win. I'll keep opening more Lost Origin in order to study the pull rate and post my findings, but what a start!
• Spiritomb: Capping things off is a Character Rare which, like Radiant Pokémon, can be pulled from the Reverse Holo slot. The artwork looks incredible on this one and it also ties nicely into an intriguing and creepy storyline in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

On top of all of this, I pulled a Hisuian Basculegion holo, which means that half of the packs were hit packs and one fourth of the packs had a hit in the Reverse Holo slot as well.

Overall, we began with a terrific and exciting opening. Stay tuned to our Lost Origin tag, as we have many more Pokémon TCG openings to come.

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