The Best Art In The Pokemon TCG

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I will forever be in love with the textured designs that Pokemon TCG has created over the years. Urshifu is just one of the designs that immediately comes to mind. I wish this set was still around as I would be ripping packs so quickly for this card or for the Gold and Black version of it.
 
Did you know that Surfing Pikachu is in TCG Pocket? It doesn't have its own card, but it's still in the game! Also, I think the card it's in would deserve to be in this thread even without the Easter Egg. I put it in a spoiler tab in case anyone wants to try to find it.
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A few of my other favorite cards from TCG Pocket are the Genetic Apex Pidgey Evolution Chain. It starts with 1 Pidgey with another flying in and it doesn't feel like they're evolving because it's just more birds flying onto the same branch.
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R_N said:
as is N's Zorua
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I've got a question about the card's attack. Is Scratch the move Zorua uses or the move used against him? It seems Super Effective against the fluffy little guy. <3
 
R_N said:
The clefairy art rare is also extremely cute

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Really excited for this card to come out since i play miraidon and that deck will be unviable come april (since all the viable electric energy acceleration is in SS-era cards but on the plus-side i don't have to deal with that fuckass regidrago deck) and this card +xatu being unironically some of the best energy acceleration out rn if you look past a few flaws means terapagos ex will likely see some legitimate success.

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this is the only full-art of my favorite little guy. he's only had 19 cards printed so collecting all of them doesn't seem super far-fetched (pulling all of them is definitely out of the question though. might need to break out the wallet for this one.) and since lost origins is still *technically* being printed very rarely it might be worth trying to pull him.



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here's another stupid looking ghost-type. No it's not the white balance making it look like that (as the astute may be able to tell from my purple ass deskmat) but it's been sun dried to shit and the color's shifted over time. Cat got to one corner and some moron that i'd call my friend went at the other 3 with nail clippers. He stays on my desk until he is fully blue.
 
R_N said:
This China-exclusive variant of 151's Mew is so cute

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Going to be pretty pricey on the second hand market too. Chinese exclusive and only going to make 1510 of them.
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Hopefully we get this one in English, I've given up hope that we'll see any of the Chinese GO cards which is a shame because they remove the bootleg-looking stamp from the corner lol.
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Way better, imo.
Though Prismatic Evolutions did give us an English print of the Korean exclusive 'Ogerpon but they flipped the art and did literally nothing else', so never say never I guess.
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PSLY PRK said:
Hopefully we get this one in English, I've given up hope that we'll see any of the Chinese GO cards which is a shame because they remove the bootleg-looking stamp from the corner lol.
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Way better, imo.
Though Prismatic Evolutions did give us an English print of the Korean exclusive 'Ogerpon but they flipped the art and did literally nothing else', so never say never I guess.
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Mew EX (& the Pikachus) are still relevant/legal, unlike the Go cards, so perhaps they could see an international release later down the line in some future reprint set or promo box?

Could see some of the Go artwork make its way into Pocket. I think all the artists are still the usual stable of TCG artists so there probably wouldn't be much issue using them. No physical would be a bummer though, unless they decide to also reuse the artwork just on different cards.
 
As you know Space-Time Smackdown, TCG Pocket's first big expansion just dropped. This would be the part where I pick out my favorite card but uhhh... I can't really do that. Maybe it's just recency bias talking, but I swear that even by modern Pokemon TCG art standards this set is on another level. The sheer quantity AND quality of art rares is, as best as I can recall, unprecedented, with a startling variety of wondrously executed styles and tones.

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I've gotta stop here for the art rares because if I don't I'm just gonna copypaste the entire Pokebeach gallery. Unpopular guys have been allowed to join the fun too: Lickilicky, Carnivine and as you can see above Glameow have never looked anywhere near this appealing.

God even some of the regular art feels like it's raised the bar. Take a look at this quartet of cards with the Lake Guardians and Giratina in the Distortion World:
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I will re-iterate what I said in the TCG Pocket thread when this set was first revealed: Please, please let part 2 be Hisui-themed. Arceus is among the few members of the DP 107 conspicuously missing so I'm hopeful!
 
Seconding Yung Dramps. The new TCG Pocket set is amazing just for the art.

My favorite is the either the Immersive art Palkia EX or the Rainbow Border Darkrai EX. Palkia is the only thing in color in an M C Escher landscape and I can't wait to see its animation. Darkrai is living upto is title of the embodiment of nightmares in the Rainbow Boarder EX. I didn't even see Darkrai at first. I though it was just the shadow!

Shinx is extra cute because it has the move Hide, which is clearly being used in its Full Art card. (IMO, I think the coin flip was Tails. :P)

Full Art Manphy isn't my favorite, but it's worth mentioning because Manaphy is in the art of 4 other Pokemon's cards and all those Pokemon are in Manaphy's Full Art.

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'Comforting' They really put 'Comforting' on that
The Wigglytuff is being done by 5ban, one of the studios that do the CGIs for exs and stuff like that, which kinda explains why it looks like a Detective Pikachu reject
 
DrrT said:
The Orbeetle line also somehow fits Rocket pretty well, or at least the last stage does. Never thought about it but that's the thing I like of some of owner's Pokemon.
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It's nice but also kind of weird that after 2 sets (& a few theme decks) adhering very closely to Pokemon they actually have-deviating only with Ethan- the Team Rocket set decides to reach out towards anything they feel might fit rather than just what they used in games and coordinate everything to just being "Team Rocket" rather than specific trainers so there's more cohesion with an actual archetype and seem to have more owner's Pokemon over all.


Great articuno art incidentally, the pose is pretty standard but usually you get snowy clouds and less of an angy face
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(Poor Proton misses out on legendary, rip)
 
One day I hope to collect every Skitty card, here are some of my favs!
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mf george of the jungle

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Double trouble

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wtf am I looking at (this is also the only Skitty card I currently have)

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Anime opening

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Love cards with this type of art

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Cards that really play with Skitty's dimensions and look cute af
 
Nidoking has always felt like the cool Gen 1 Pokemon that got left behind. For as popular as Charizard, Gengar, and Mewtwo are, I’ll always have the fondest memories of Nidoking for brutalizing kanto almost every playthrough as a child. It’s gotten so little attention over the years, almost like it’s frozen in time, preserved in that one moment where it was the most badass Pokémon around.

And as if invoking that nostalgia, they got Uninori, the artists who did that stunning Meowth illustration in the old watercolor Pokemon style to do a headliner illustrator rare in that style for Nidoking.

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My boy has been done justice.
 
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