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

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Obsidian Flames Part 21: Melmetal Ex

Meltan and Melmetal's cards from Japan's Melmetal ex Starter Deck are adapted to English in Pokémon TCG: 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 Steel-types.

Meltan, the Mythical species originally introduced in Pokémon GO — the first-ever Pokémon to boast that unusual honor — is featured along with Melmetal in this set. Meltan's card shows this little Steel-typed Mythical hopping around in the middle of a junkyard with an expression of joy on its face. That joy turns to rage when Meltan evolves into Melmetal, who delivers a crushing, border-breaking blow on Melmetal ex. Melmetal's expressive eye/face is inverted into a line representing a scowl. I am impressed by how much emotion PLANETA Igorashi can convey with such a simple face in Melmetal's character design. This card bursts with electricity, an aesthetic that lends itself well to the starry holo pattern used for this card type during the Scarlet & Violet era.

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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