Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, sun & moon, Team Up

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Team Up Part 33: The Lost Alt Arts

These are the four Alternate Art Pokémon TCG cards that didn't make it into Sun & Moon - Team Up and were released as SM Black Star Promos.

Four years ago, Pokémon TCG released the ninth main series set of the Sun & Moon era. The expansion, Sun & Moon – Team Up, came out on September 9th, 2022. Sun & Moon – Team Up added quite a lot to the hobby, including a special card type that would later become the most sought-after style of chase card in the Sword & Shield era. I'm talking, of course, about Alternate Arts. Sun & Moon – Team Up also introduced TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX, which featured two Pokémon on a single card. These species shared at least one of their typings. TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX were available as standard TEAM TEAM GX cards, Full Arts, Alternate Arts, and Rainbow Rares. Sun & Moon – Team Up was also the last set to include Prism Stars. This English-language expansion was based on the Japanese set Tag Bolt and took inspiration from the Kanto-themed games Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! Let's look back on this influential set and appreciate the artwork that would lay the groundwork for the current Alternate Art-themed era of Sword & Shield and beyond. Today, we take a break from the cards in the actual Sun & Moon – Team Up set list and instead show Alt Arts based on cards from the set.

English-language Pokémon TCG sets usually adapt multiple Japanese sets, so not all cards make it in. These are more Alternate Arts that were instead used as SM Black Star Promo cards as guaranteed, featured cards in products rather than in packs of Team Up. They include…

• Magikarp & Wailord GX: This is not the Alt Art but rather the main entry by Mitsuhiro Arita. For some reason, the main card was made into a promo while the Alt Art & Full Art was put in the set.
• Venusaur & Celebi GX Alt Art by Shin Nagasawa
• Pikachu & Zekrom GX Alt Art by kawayoo
• Eevee & Snorlax GX Alt Art by Tomokazu Komiya

Stay tuned for the journey through this teamwork-themed set as we continue to spotlight the cards and artwork of Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon – Team Up. Next time, the spotlight continues with the main section of this set.

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