Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: chilling reign, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Pokemon Trading Card Game

The Cards of Pokémon TCG: Chilling Reign Part 21

Sword & Shield – Chilling Reign is the latest expansion from Pokémon TCG. It focuses on the Legendary Pokémon Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos, Galarian Moltres, Shadow Rider Calyrex, and Ice Rider Calyrex. It continues the Rapid Strike and Single Strike mechanic introduced in Battle Styles. Chilling Reign is known for its inclusion of a large number of Alternate Arts both in the Full Art portion of the set and the Secret Rare portion. These Alternate Arts were popular during the tail end of the Sun & Moon era with fan-favorite sets such as Unified Minds, Cosmic Eclipse, and so on, but Chilling Reign, Battle Styles, and the upcoming Evolving Skies set have made this style of card more popular than ever. With this series, we will spotlight all of the exciting pulls from Chilling Reign, which you can see as they release by following the set's Bleeding Cool tag. This time, we continue with a closer look at the set's Secret Rare cards.

Note that because Rainbow Rares use essentially the same artwork with a different color palette that we already covered in our earlier pieces, these installments will focus more on value and collectibility rather than the artwork focus that this series normally uses.

• Doctor, Flannery, Karen's Conviction, Klara: The trend continues here. Female Trainer Supporter cards tend to be more valuable in their Full Art form rather than in this Rainbow Rare form, which is harder to pull. I believe this comes down to the Pokémon TCG being less-than-selective about what gets a Rainbow Rare. For instance, of these four cards, while I love the Doctor character design… it was cool to stay as a Full Art. As is, it was one of the best Full Arts in the set, but the Rainbow Rare doesn't do much for it. Klara, on the other hand, exudes an energy that matches the Rainbow vibe. When talking value, these run the gamut. I was a bit surprised at how high Flannery ranks up there as the 20th most valuable card in the set. It is just cents away from the value of its Full Art equivalent at a current value of $29.36. Klara's Rainbow Rare, on the other hand, is far below its Full Art value, with the Full Art worth $22.06 and the Rainbow Rare worth $19.95, which is just a few cents above the Doctor Rainbow. Finally, Karen's Conviction ends up worth $16.89. We are definitely seeing the size of these sets end up leading to overall more affordable cards, with the market value of these already sinking so soon after the set's release. This is also a sign of the Pokémon TCG recovering from the scalper crisis due to the company following through heroically on its promise to print, print, print to match demand.

Next time, the spotlight on Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield – Chilling Reign continues with the set's incredible Secret Rares.

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