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

Pokémon TCG Early Opening: Silver Tempest – Best Booster Box Ever?

The time has come, Pokémon TCG fans, for some Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest openings. Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest is the next official Pokémon TCG expansion, and this Alolan Vulpix and Lugia-themed set is notable in that it is the final main series set of the Sword & Shield era. This set will hit shelves on November 11th, 2022, just two weeks from now… which means that pre-release events start tomorrow, October 29th, 2022. Today, we get to crack open a Booster Box of this new Pokémon TCG expansion, ahead of the street date. Thanks to The Pokémon Company International for this opening, which is just the first of many upcoming Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest openings coming to Bleeding Cool. Let's get into it.

A Pokémon TCG booster box is the best way to truly experience a new set due to the sheer number of packs. 36 packs of Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest will familiarize you with every common, likely every uncommon, most rares and holo-rares, and even some Ultra Rares, Full Arts, and Secret Rares in the set. While booster boxes have no guarantees, you can usually hope for a Secret Rare or Full Art. I've only ever gotten one single booster box with no Full Art or higher hit, and many with multiple. This box of Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest may be the best Pokémon TCG booster box I've ever opened, though, standing far above the rest.

The box itself shows off the set mascots with beautiful, striking art. The focus here is Lugia, Alolan Vulpix, Regidrago, and Regieleki, showing attentive Pokémon TCG fans that this set is adapting the Japanese-language sets Incandescent Arcana and Paradigm Trigger. The pack art and box looks beautiful, but you already know what we are here for. The hits!

Here's the breakdown:

• 6 holo-rares
• 4 Pokémon-V
• 1 Pokémon-VSTAR
• 1 Radiant Pokémon
• 2 Full Arts:
  • 1 Alternate Art
  • 1 Full Art Trainer
• 2 Secret Rares:
  • 1 Rainbow Rare Pokémon
  • 1 Gold Energy
• 5 Trainer Gallery hits:
  • 4 Character Rares
  • 1 Character Super Rare

The elephant in the room is, of course, the chase card of the set: Lugia V Alt Art. I was stunned to pull this monster of a chase card in my third-ever pack of Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest, which already makes this a legendary opening in multiple senses. I was satisfied after this, but the box kept on giving.

Since Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest does not have a Gold VSTAR of Alolan Vulpix, which makes the Rainbow Rare the best version of this card that can be pulled… and I was stunned to pull this one as well. While this card is unlikely to be a Lugia-level pull, it was certainly my personal secondary chase card.

When all is said and done, two Full Art-level cards and two Secret Rares is absolutely insane. This is a shoo-in for the best technical hits I've gotten in a box, with the only other box in the discussion being a Sword & Shield – Evolving Skies box I opened back in the summer of 2021 that had three Alt Arts in it.

Like the other Sword & Shield-branded sets released this year, Silver Tempest has a Trainer Gallery subset of cards that can be pulled in the reverse holo slots. These cards dramatically enrich openings, adding a great deal of extra seasoning to this already stellar opening.

Thanks again to The Pokémon Company International and look forward to more openings right here.

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