Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Crown Zenith, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, raikou

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Crown Zenith Part 54: Raikou Illustration

Raikou's Special Illustration Rare from Pokémon TCG: Crown Zenith, the set that closed out the Sword & Shield era, gets today's spotlight.

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.

This card, featuring Raikou V running at its full electrifying pace, is one of the most stunning illustrations from Crown Zenith, which is saying a lot, considering this is essentially an entirely Alternate Art set. The artist here is nagimiso, who stuns with their use of color and textured brush strokes to create the sense of a blurring background due to this Legendary Pokémon's speed. nagimiso has been contributing to the Pokémon TCG since the special XY-era small set Double Crisis. Some of their most notable contributions have been Team Magma's Groudon EX and Team Aqua's Kyogre EX from that set, Cythnia Full Art from Sun & Moon – Ultra Prism, Shiny Charmeleon from Hidden Fates, Boss's Orders Full Art from Sword & Shield – Rebel Clash, Blaziken V Character Super Rare from Sword & Shield – Silver Tempest, and Jolteon V from SWSH Black Star Promos. We have seen nagimiso continue into the Scarlet & Violet era with new cards including Rabsca Illustration Rare from Scarlet & Violet – Paldea Evolved and Armaroughe Illustration Rare from Scarlet & Violet base.

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. You can read more about this iconic trading card game right here at Bleeding Cool.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

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