Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, shining fates, TCG

Pokémon TCG Previews Anticipated Shining Fates Set

This year, the Pokémon TCG celebrates its 25th anniversary. It comes at an interesting time in the life of this long-running and beloved Trading Card Game because of the way that speculator and collector interest has skyrocketed recently. Shelves of retailers are notoriously known for being cleared as soon as they can restock, shops are seeing their orders massively allocated, and re-sellers are jacking the prices of their scalped purchases up double, triple, quadruple, and even higher on eBay and Amazon. The hobby is at a major turning point during this huge milestone of a year, and it is expected to majorly impact the availability of the upcoming Pokémon TCG: Shining Fates set. While these cards may be hard to come by, the excitement among the fanbase is also soaring. Let's take a look at some of this set's cards.

The Pokémon Company International has begun previewing these cards in multiple ways, with certain sponsored partners like Leonhart showcasing the physical cards on his YouTube channel. However, they are now also releasing actual digital images of the cards in English for the first time.

This set, which will translate the Japanse Shiny Star V set into English, is currently known to have the following:

• Common, Uncommon, Rare, Holo Rare cards: This is a given and has been since the start of the Pokémon TCG. What we don't know, though, is whether each pack will guarantee a holo or better like the previous special set Champion's Path. Shining Fates is a sequel to both Shining Legends and, more recently, the monster hit Hidden Fates, which did not guarantee a holo in every pack.
• V and VMAX: As with the other sets in the Sword & Shield era, the V and VMAX mechanic will continue. It seems as if at least one known card is going to be a reprint from the Sword and Shield base set with Morpeko, but it is not confirmed how many entirely new versus reprinted cards there will be.
• Amazing Rare: This new kind of card started in Vivid Voltage and continues here, though is not known to be present in March's upcoming Battle Styles set. There will be three Amazing Rares, which are textured cards with what appears to be a splash of shimmering, rainbow paint. Hopefully, these continue, because they've been beloved by Pokémon TCG collectors.
• Shiny Pokémon: Known as "Baby Shinies" by some, these are regular Pokémon cards in style with a silvery, textured foil background showing the sparkles that come off of a Shiny Pokémon when encountered. The Pokémon itself is shown in its color variant Shiny form.
• Shiny Pokémon V and VMAX: This replaces the Shiny GX from Hidden Fates and will be essentially the most coveted pulls in the set, with the chase card being the Shiny Charizard VMAX.
• Rainbow Rares, Trainer Supporter Full Arts: These have been staples for years now since the Sun & Moon era and will continue here. The Marnie card is expected to, as with the Marnies in the Sword & Shield base set, be major chase cards.

Finally, there are expected to be golden Secret Rares due to their presence in Shiny Star V but no English versions have been seen as of yet.

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