Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Paldea Evolved, pokemon, pokemon cards, Scarlet & Violet

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Paldea Evolved – Top 5 Cards

These are Bleeding Cool's picks for the top five cards of Pokémon TCG's June 2023 expansion, Scarlet & Violet - Paldea Evolved.

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 June 9, 2023, the Pokémon TCG released the second set of this era, Scarlet & Violet – Paldea Evolved, which focused on the Paldean Starters and the Treasures of Ruin Legendaries. In today's installment of this Scarlet & Violet – Paldea Evolved art spotlight, we count down the top five cards of the set.

• 5 – Marill Illustration Rare: For Marill, we have Southern Islands vibes! Remember when Marill was first coming out, and we all thought it was called Pikablu? Well, now, so many years later, we're getting the first-ever Marill Secret Rare with this Illustration Rare. This card is illustrated by Atsuya Uki, who debuted in the Pokémon TCG with the Cynthia's Ambition Special Illustration Rare in Crown Zenith. This is Uki's second credited card.
• 4 – Raichu Illustration Rare: I'm happy to get a Raichu Secret Rare so early in the Scarlet & Violet era. Normally, it is the unevolved Pokémon that get shafted when it comes to Secret Rare and Ultra Rare cards, but things are different for Pikachu and Raichu. Pikachu is the franchise mascot, so of course, it gets tons of cards, while Raichu tends to get left behind quite often. Now, we are just two sets into Scarlet & Violet, and we get a gorgeous Illustration Rare featuring Raichu by artist Toshinao Aoki, who depicts Raichu letting off bolts of electricity while it sleeps peacefully.
• 3 – Sprigatito Illustration Rare: Sprigatito's Illustration Rares tells a beautiful story of evolution and maturity. In a sequence of three cards, we see Sprigatito maturing and observing the world as a tree in its yard grows along with it. My favorite of the three Paldean Starter card sets, this subtle tale of growth and wonder is illustrated by Pokémon TCG legend Kouki Saitou. I've chosen this first card featuring Sprigatito itself to represent this sequence.

• 2 – Magikarp Illustration Rare: There are some artists with a style so distinctive that you can tell when they drew a card by a glance. This is, of course, true of creators who use mixed media, like Yuka Morii's photography and clay sculptures, but some traditional artists are so stylized that you can't help but recognize them even from afar. Such is the case with Shinji Kanda, who illustrates this memorable Magikarp Illustration Rare. Kanda's work uses highly detailed, dark landscapes with light, thin, colorful linework. In theory, there are so many wild colors here that the card's illustration should clash, but with Kanda it always just works. When I first saw the Japanese version of the card, I predicted it would be a fan-favorite hit from this set, but even I didn't see it going as high as it did. As of this writing, it is the second most valuable card in the set behind the Iono Special Illustration Rare… which takes the top slot.
• 1 – Iono Special Illustration Rare Trainer Supporter: Many may be wondering what is so special about this Iono card. The card is a Special Illustration Rare Trainer Supporter card, which is essentially the equivalent of an Alt Art for a Trainer. The Japanese version of the Iono card was selling for over $1,000 in the secondary market. Iono is, very simply, a breakout character from the Scarlet & Violet games, similar to how Marnie was in Sword & Shield. The English-language version of the card is the top card of Scarlet & Violet – Paldea Evolved when it comes to value, currently worth $82.46. This card, illustrated by kirisAki, set off a new but brief interest in female-driven Trainer Supporter cards, leading to momentary spikes in value for multiple Full Art Trainer Supporters from the Sword & Shield era. This is also no surprise, considering the artist here. kirisAki is one of the top Full Art Trainer artists in the Pokémon TCG, creating some major chase cards.

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

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