Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Smeargle, vintage

TCG Spotlight: Some Of The Best Smeargle Pokémon Cards

In honor of the brief but glorious release of Shiny Smeargle in Pokémon GO, let's take a look back at some of the most iconic Smeargle cards from the Pokémon TCG. This includes both vintage and modern. We'd love to hear from you, so chime in with your top Smeargle picks in the comments below.

Hey, is this a Pokémon card or is this fine art? I can't tell. It might be just me, but this Smeargle card makes me picture a bunch of people in turtlenecks gathered around it a museum, spouting theories about what this thoughtful dog may be thinking. Artist Tomokazu Komiya illustrated something totally unique with this early Smeargle card that was released as a Black Star Promo through the Pokémon League in the United States.

Though the next entry is nearly a tie, the best Smeargle card ever printed in my eyes is Hironobu Yoshida's Smeargle from Neo Discovery. The Neo sets were truly a special time in the Pokémon TCG. Some of the hype from Base Set had died down, but a new wave of excitement came with the Neo era due to these sets focusing on Generation Two Pokémon. What was cool about this era is that the Pokémon TCG had been around for some time, so it seemed as if there was more room to experiment with art styles that deviated from what was clearly the Sugimori-inspired house style. This Smeargle is part of that experimentation, for sure. Also, the holographic style of the time was the absolutely beautiful galaxy foil style. This is the style that Japan had been using since Base Set, which Wizards of the Coast switched their cards over to starting with their English Team Rocket set. To this day, it's the best holofoil style and it's not even close.

Speaking of fine art! Yukiko Baba draws the most unique Smeargle card of this list for BREAKthrough, and that's truly saying something. I often write in my TCG pieces how I love cards that show an interaction between Pokémon and trainers, and this card is the perfect example of that in the way it illustrates Smeargle helping its trainer out with a painting.

Now, we get a classic Ken Sugimori Smeargle in the expansive Lost Thunder set. The simplicity of the style and the background is classic Pokémon, and that lands it a solid place in my top four.

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