Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Celebrations, chansey, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG
Pokémon TCG Illustrators Were Gifted This Unique Chansey Card
Social media posts from illustrators Shibuzoh. and Hideki Ishikawa have confirmed the existence of some incredibly exclusive Pokemon TCG cards. These cards, including a sketch-style card of Chansey and a version of the Base Set Charizard that has never been released to the public, was sent to Pokémon TCG illustrators in a 25th Anniversary deck as a special gift. Titled Creatures Deck: Corporate History (1995-2021), this product sent by Creatures will not be available on the market. While this product is similar in style to Celebrations and the Japanese equivalent 25th Anniversary set, as it reprints classic cards, it contains many cards not in the set such as the Chansey below. You'll also note a difference in the style of these cards, with a holo pattern quite unlike that from the Anniversary products. This makes this special deck quite a unique product to own, and likely one that will go for major bucks if any of the illustrators choose to sell theirs on the secondary market.
The Chansey here, illustrated by Koichi Oyama, looks like a test product that was made in the early days of the Pokémon TCG. It serves as the base for what would later be the Base Set Chansey. In this deck, all of the cards represent a year of Creatures' time in business, and this one represents their first: 1995, which was the year before the cards were released to the public.
This is the second time this year that we saw cards not intended for the public go out as Pokémon TCG gifts. Earlier this year, we saw pop stars J Balvin, Katy Perry, and Post Malone feature on their own Pokémon-V which were later revealed to be one-time cards printed exclusively for those artists. I'm happy to see the illustrators, who are the backbone of the TCG, get such a terrific gift.