Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Decidueye, Obsidian Flames, pokemon, pokemon cards

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Obsidian Flames Part 1: Decidueye Ex

Rowlet drawn by Tomokazu Komiya, Dartrix drawn by sui, Decidueye ex drawn by PLANETA Mochizuki feature in Pokémon TCG: Obsidian Flames.

With Sword & Shield officially concluded, the Scarlet & Violet era of the Pokémon TCG kicked off in March 2023 with a focus on the ninth generation of Pokémon games and the new region: Paldea. It all began with the Scarlet & Violet base set, which introduced major, lasting changes to the hobby. Now, the borders of the cards have become silver, matching the Japanese releases. Another major change is that now, each pack culminates in at least a holo-rare and two reverse holos. The major mechanic of this era is the lowercase ex, which features a double holographic pattern of a horizontal shine and a starry sparkle. Full Art exs now use a green, foil outline around the Pokémon. The Secret Rare section of expansions going forward features Full Arts, Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rare exs, Full Art Trainers, Special Illustration Rare Trainers, and Gold Hyper Rares. On August 11, 2023, the Pokémon TCG released the third set of this era, Scarlet & Violet – Obsidian Flames, which introduced Tera Pokémon with a Tera type differing from their base type. The chase card is a Dark-type Tera Charizard ex. In today's installment of this Scarlet & Violet – Obsidian Flames art spotlight, we begin with the Grass-types.

We begin our spotlight with Rowlet, Dartrix, and Decidueye. The artists credited with each of these are Rowlet, drawn by Tomokazu Komiya; Dartrix, drawn by sui; and Decidueye ex, drawn by PLANETA Mochizuki. The standout here is Rowlet, as illustrated by Komiya. Tomokazu Komiya has illustrated hundreds of Pokémon cards and remains one of the franchise's most distinct artists. With his instantly recognizable style of colorful, somewhat scratchy artwork, Komiya has been bringing a style that feels like fine art to the Pokémon TCG for years. Tomokazu Komiya's first credits were in Neo Genesis. This Johto-themed set saw Komiya arrive with something to prove, and he did just that. He took an abstract approach to Pokémon design, setting his method and final result about as far apart from Ken Sugimori's house-style cards, which were very much the norm throughout the early days.

Stay tuned for the journey through this special set as we continue to spotlight the cards and artwork of Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet – Obsidian Flames. Next time, the spotlight continues with the standard section of the set. You can read more about this iconic trading card game right here at Bleeding Cool.

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