Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Brilliant Stars, Fusion Strike, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG

Pokémon TCG Opening: Prof. Juniper Premium Tournament Collection

Published Sat, 25 Jun 2022 15:12:12 -0500

by Theo Dwyer

Comments

Last year, the Pokémon TCG introduced a new kind of product: the Premium Tournament Collection. Shaped like a milk box, this collection offered a Full Art Trainer entirely exclusive to the box, holographic trainer cards, sleeves themed to the box, a small deck box, and seven assorted Pokémon TCG booster packs. The first Premium Tournament Collection was Marnie-themed, which made it a highly popular product due to the value of and community interest in previous Marnie Full Art cards. Now, this product is back and this time around, it features Professor Juniper. Let's open up a Pokémon TCG: Professor Juniper Premium Tournament Collection to see what we get.

Professor Juniper Premium Tournament Collection. Credit: Pokémon TCG — Professor Juniper Premium Tournament Collection. Credit: *Pokémon TCG*

First things first, I am a big fan of this product due to how compact it is. The contents are comparable and honestly preferable in some cases to an Elite Trainer Box, but it takes up a quarter of the room that an ETB does. I can comfortably hold this in my hand because of the way that the packs are stored in the deck box. Now, since this product is the one way to get the Professor Juniper Full Art, sleeves, and deck box, those items are going to be the main reason to pick this up. However, since this is a pricier item at $39.99, pack selection matters. The Pokémon TCG booster packs that you will find in the Professor Juniper Premium Tournament Collection include:

Three Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars
Two Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike
One Sword & Shield – Evolving Skies
Three Sword & Shield – Chilling Reign

Note that the latest set, Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance, isn't here. That is expected as this product was originally slated for last month, so no points off for that. The pack selection is very strong here, making this product even more of a must-have.

The only issue that I had with this product was the sleeves. While the Pokémon Center has switched back to glossy fronts, this product and Elite Trainer Boxes still have the matte sleeves that completely block the shine of Ultra Rare cards. I pulled a Houndoom Character Rare in Brilliant Stars which, when put in one of the Juniper sleeves, looks blurred out.

Sleeves aside, this is a strong collection that offers one of the coolest promo cards of the Sword & Shield era along with a desirable selection of packs.