Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: absol, Crown Zenith, pokemon, Pokemon TCG, Thievul

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Crown Zenith Part 38: Ditto

Our spotlight on Pokémon TCG: Crown Zenith continues with a Ditto Illustration Rare, which may be mistakenly as a Numel card... at first.

The Sword & Shield era of the Pokémon TCG has come to an end. Three years of expansions dedicated to the region of Galar, with some love for Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl's revitalization of Sinnoh and Pokémon Legends: Arceus's introduction of the ancient region of Hisui, have led to this moment. Crown Zenith, a special set celebrating the Sword & Shield era, was released on January 20th, 2023. It was primarily an adaptation of Japan's VSTAR Universe set and also featured a collection of cards that were cut from other English-language sets and more. Like other special sets, including Champion's Path, Shining Fates, Celebrations, and Pokémon GO, Crown Zenith packs were found in specially branded products like Premium Collections and Elite Trainer Boxes rather than booster boxes. This set featured the Galarian Gallery subset, which introduced Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rares, originally called "Art Rares," to the hobby, which set the standard for the following Sword & Shield era, which used these card types as their primary Secret Rares. In today's installment of this Crown Zenith spotlight, let's take a look at more cards from the Galarian Gallery subset.

I love, love, love the trend of Ditto being shown as a regular Pokémon, except for the goofy Ditto eyes and smile. This is such a cute and creative way to show a Pokémon hiding in plain sight as Ditto poorly disguising itself as Numel here. This illustration by Miki Tanaka also be a reference to Numel being one of the Pokémon that you could peel in the Pokémon GO set to reveal a holographic Ditto. Tanaka has been contributing to the hobby since the early days of the Fossil set, which is the third set ever released. Some standout Tanaka cards include the Slowpoke from Fossil, the holographic Magneton from Team Rocket, Igglybuff from Neo Discovery, Vileplume from Expedition, and the Slowpoke & Psyduck GX Alternate Art from Sun & Moon – Unified Minds.

Stay tuned for the journey through this special set as we continue to spotlight the cards and artwork of Pokémon TCG: Crown Zenith. Next time, the spotlight continues with the Galarian Gallery subset.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!