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TCG Spotlight: Some Of The Best Articuno Pokémon Cards

In honor of this week's Kanto Legendary presence in Pokémon GO, let's take a look back at some of the most iconic Articuno cards from the Pokémon TCG. We're covering modern and vintage here, and we'd love to hear from you as well. Let us know your four favorite Articuno cards in the comments below.

Fossil Articuno. Credit: WOTC
Fossil Articuno. Credit: WOTC

All right, does Articuno look a bit derpy here? Yeah. It does. However, this card from the Fossil expansion is nostalgia made physical. Also, aside from the somewhat short and thicc depiction of this normally graceful Legendary Bird by Mitsuhiro Arita, the color palette is quite nice. The sparkling ice of the background actually reminds me of the modern depiction of Shiny Pokémon cards in sets like Hidden Fates and Shining Fates, which is quite nice.

Black Star Promo Articuno. Credit: WOTC
Black Star Promo Articuno. Credit: WOTC

Here, we have the first-ever Pokémon card that I feel truly captures the essence of Articuno. Illustrated by Naoyo Kimura, this graceful Articuno card shows the Legendary Bird of Kanto releasing an icy attack. The color palette actually makes it look like a Shiny Articuno here, even though this was drawn and colored before that kind of thing was even a thought. This was given out for the Power of One movie and is part of the Wizards of the Coast Black Star Promo set.

Generations Articuno. Credit: Pokémon TCG
Generations Articuno. Credit: Pokémon TCG

This looks stylistically like a Full Art EX Pokémon card from the XY era but it is, indeed, just a standard Articuno Full Art from Generations, one of the most beloved special sets ever released. Illustrated by Ryo Ueda, this uses the same text and attack as the Articuno card in Roaring Skies, which also almost made this list, but the beautiful texture and the detail of the tail makes this one the winner.

Hidden Fates Shiny Articuno. Credit: Pokémon TCG
Hidden Fates Shiny Articuno. Credit: Pokémon TCG

What can I say? Hidden Fates is one of the Top Five best sets of Pokémon TCG ever for a reason. This set showcases Shiny Pokêmon beautifully and Shiny Articuno, which positively glows on this textured, silvery card has never looked better. This is far and away the most beautiful Articuno card of all time and, though there are great ones, it's not even close.


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Theo DwyerAbout Theo Dwyer

Theo Dwyer writes about comics, film, and games.
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