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

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Obsidian Flames Part 13: Vespiquen Ex

Espeon and Tera Vespiquen ex feature as Psychic-types in Pokémon TCG's summer 2023 set, Scarlet & Violet - 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 continue with the Psychic-types.

Here we have one of the most popular Pokémon featured on a common card and an underrated Pokémon getting a Tera Pokémon ex, both of which are exciting. Artist Cona Nitanda uses misty pastels to depict Espeon walking on a stone path in a garden on a warm Spring day. Gorgeous. I love the domestic vibes of the Scarlet & Violet era. Then, we have something that is anything but domestic: Vespiquen takes on a Tera transformation on this textured, creepy card by 5ban Graphics. This is actually a case of a Tera typing differing from its standard typing because Psychic-types usually represent Ghost-types, Psychic-types, and sometimes even Poison-types, but Vespiquen isn't poison usually. It's generally a Bug/Flying-type, which would normally appear as either Grass-type or Normal-type in the Pokémon TCG.

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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