Posted in: Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: gengar, pokemon, Pokemon TCG

What Eevee Heroes Means For The Future Of Pokémon TCG

For about a year now, the Pokémon TCG hobby has been at a turning point. What impact will Eevee Heroes, the newly released and astronomically hyped Japanese set, have on the overall hobby?

A number of factors, which many blame fully on Logan Paul and other YouTubers without realizing it's much more than that, have converged to create massive hype that has resulted in a huge scalping problem, distributor allocations, and even big box stores like Target opting not to sell Pokémon cards anymore in fear that a disgruntled trading card collector will make the ting go skrrrahh, pap, pap, ka-ka-ka skibiki-pap-pap, and a pu-pu-pudrrrr-boom! Skya, du-du-ku-ku-dun-dun, poom, poom! Will the hype continue when Eevee Heroes is translated into English in what is expected to be August 2021's expansion, Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shied – Evolving Skies?

I believe we will see hype, card scarcity, and scalping increase once again whenever this set is translated to Engish, yes. Right now, Japan is doing lotteries to determine who will be able to get the set. People are camping outside of stores. While I don't think we will see that level of intensity or the level we saw with Shining Fates, I do believe it will be difficult to come by-products if you don't have a connection to a local game shop. You are much more likely to end up with cards if you become a loyal patron of an LGS rather than someone hoping that the Walmart gods show mercy on your soul.

One thing I think that is changing massively, though, is the structure of Pokémon TCG sets. The number of Full Arts and Secret Rares has begun multiplying. The XY era had one or two Secret Rares per set and a few Full Arts. The Sun & Moon era introduced Rainbow Rare variants of the Full Arts, increasing the number of Secret Rares drastically. Then, the Sword & Shield era added Trainer Supporters to the Rainbow Rare pool. Now, March's Battle Styles reintroduced Alternate Arts and debuted Alternate Art Secret Rare VMAXes, and many Eeveelutions get that in the Japanese Eevee Heroes. We're going to start to see sets that are becoming increasingly difficult to complete… but hey, I can't say that the art isn't stunning. It's going to be hard out here in these Pokémon streets, but we must recognize that even though we're in a time where getting cards is difficult, we're also in a time of some of the best artwork in the franchise's history.

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