Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: Arceus, Brilliant Stars, pokemon, Pokemon TCG, Star Birth

Pokémon TCG Japan's Star Birth Preview: Arceus V-STAR

This week, the Pokémon TCG will release the next Japanese set, Star Birth, which kicks off 2022 with a Sinnoh focus. Star Birth will debut the VSTAR mechanic with cards featuring Charizard, Shaymin, Arceus, and Whimsicott. The set, the first major release of the year, will partly be the basis for the next English-language expansion, Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars which will be released in February 2022. We cover both English-language and Japanese-language releases here on Bleeding Cool, as the Japanese sets will give us a peek into the future of what is coming down the line for international releases. Today, let's take a look at two of the first Secret Rares we get to see from Star Birth: the Lumineon V Alternate Art and Roseanne's Back-up Full Art Trainer Supporter.

Yesterday, we covered two of the six Arceus cards that appear in Pokémon TCG's new Japanese set, Star Birth. Those included the Alternate Art V and the Full Art V which are Secret Rares in Japan but will be part of the standard numbered set for Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars, the English version. Now, we have two more cards Arceus cards to show today, but these are Secret Rares in both the Japanese and English sets. The Arceus VSTAR gets two different forms here using the same line art: a Gold Secret Rare and a Rainbow Rare.

Now, note that unlike many Gold Secret Rares, this one doesn't show the Shiny version of Arceus. This is the standard Arceus. When the Pokémon TCG does Gold Secret Rares in the Sword & Shield era, the pattern seems to be that Golds that use a card type/mechanic (Arceus VSTAR, Zamazenta V, Zacian V, and the Start Deck 100 Gold Galaran Bird Vs) depict the standard Pokémon while Golds that use no card type (think the Celebrations Mew Gold as well as the Golds from all main series sets except Sword & Shield base) depict the Shiny version.

While Star Birth just has this one Gold Pokémon card, I'm thinking we're going to end up seeing the Pokémon TCG bring the Start Deck 100 Galarian Bird Vs into Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars for a bigger selection. What do you think? Stay tuned for more Pokémon TCG news daily right here at Bleeding Cool! You can follow our Star Birth coverage using our official tag for the set and our Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars coverage using this tag for the set.

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