Pokémon TCG Scarlet & Violet - Paldean Fates is out now
The return of shiny cards includes Tera Charizard ex alongside more ancient and future Pokémon ex.
Fans of shiny Pokémon, rejoice - the popular trading card game featuring the original Palworld pals inspiration has reintroduced shiny cards in its latest set. Pokémon TCG Scarlet & Violet - Paldean Fates is now available and includes more than 130 alternate art cards.
In the video game series, shiny Pokémon boast a different colour palette on their fur, scales, bark, etc. that doesn’t offer any special combat abilities, but the TCG took a different route when it introduced shiny cards in the Hidden Fates and Shining Fates expansions. Many shiny Pokémon cards can only include one copy in a deck but bring powerful and unique abilities to the battlefield.
Players can find both these rare critters alongside reprinted cards whose art showcases shiny Pokémon colourations. The full set contains a total of 254 cards - 91 of those are main set cards while the other 154 are “secret rare” cards that can appear as holofoil shiny or a number of other special treatments. The weight of secret rares to regular cards is a unique feature of Paldean Fates and its predecessors - it’s meant to be a collector set rather than introducing new and fun tools for deckbuilding.
More than half of the set’s standard cards are reprinted from the Scarlet & Violet base set, alongside Paldea Evolved, Obsidian Flames, and the 151 expansions. The rest were recently part of Japan’s Shiny Treasure ex expansion and print English versions of the cards for the first time. Six hyper rare cards might show up in booster packs with a new gold raised texture not seen before in Western expansions.
Collectors will be looking to pull shiny versions of favourite Pokémon such as Pikachu, Tinkaton, Ceruledge and the dragon/fish combo of Tatsugiri and Dondozo, but the real chase prizes are the new shiny Tera ex cards - Charizard, Forretress and Esparthra will sport Tera crowns and alternate typing alongside their palette swaps.
Paldean Fates will not sell individual booster packs but will instead stagger different collector tins, sealed boxes and elite trainer boxes. At launch, players can purchase the elite trainer box, which contains 11 booster packs and select promotional cards. Two different tins and a premium collection will be released on February 9th, and a six-pack booster bundle hits retail shelves and online marketplaces on February 23rd.
Pokémon TCG Live players should have access to the special expansion now, and the in-game battle pass will grant immediate access to a special Lugia VSTAR deck to start your exploration of the digital TCG. Completing daily quests through competitive or casual matches will grant crystals that can purchase a new Gardevoir ex deck with a little more punch to it. See a full card image gallery on the official Pokémon TCG website.