We’re fast approaching the second year of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet TCG era. It’s been filled with somepretty lofty highs, and a handful of sets thatdon’t quite reach collector’s expectations. But it’s early, and traditionally, thePokemon TCGhasn’t been at its most exciting during the opening stages of a new era - look at Sword & Shield, with the likes of Rebel Clash and Darkness Ablaze.
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The latest set is now on the horizon, Paldean Fates, which follows in the footsteps of previous holiday sets, Hidden Fates and Shining Fates, in focusing on the highly sought-after shiny Pokemon. I got to go hands-on with the set a few days early and here are my thoughts.
Great Presentation
While I may have bemoaned the beginning of theScarlet and VioletPokemon TCG era, there is one thing that The Pokemon Company has nailed - the look of the new sets.
Bold colors emblazon the Elite Trainer Boxes, fan-favorites feature as the pack artwork and there is a “premium” feeling to the way the latest products look. Paldean Fates is no different.
I’m a little biased here as purple is my favorite colour, but the new Elite Trainer Box looks fantastic. The stars, representative of the visual you get when a shiny pops up in-game, are a really nice touch.
If I’m being hyper-critical, the shiny Pokemon that were chosen to represent the set could have been better, with three out of the four barely recognizable as shiny. But, aside from that, the set looks top.
I did okay. It’s a smaller sample size than most of my previousPokemon TCG previews, simply because, due to its “holiday set” status, Paldean Fates doesn’t have booster boxes.
All in, I opened 25 packs of Paldean Fates - I got seven baby shinies, a full art shiny, a full art trainer, a handful of ex cards and, I have triples of the Pawmi. Triples is best.
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When those numbers are taken into account, things look pretty good. However, the baby shinies I did pull weren’t great (minus the Murkrow), the ex cards are all reprints from previous Scarlet and Violet sets, and I probably got two of the least exciting full arts. Plus I missed out on all of the big hitters from the set.And, as much as I memedI Think You Should Leavefor my Pawmi triples, getting three of any big card is never great.
Ultimately, pulls are down to luck, but I can’t help but feel a little sad.
Other Thoughts
I guess my two big issues with Paldean Fates are the fact that a large proportion of the set are reprints, and, once again, the set size is just crazy.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some truly stunning cards in the set, including some all-timers, like the Mew, and some of the baby shinies are definitely cool, but the problem is there’s an awful lot of bloat. A problem which isn’t helped by the fact that the set contains a bunch of reprints from earlier ScVi expansions.
Paldean Fates is another monster Pokemon TCG set, featuring 245 cards, excluding reverse holos. 245 cards would make Paldean Fates thejoint fourth-largestset inSword and Shield’s17-set TCG era, however, of Scarlet and Violet’s six expansions, Paldean Fates can only just make the fourth spot. It represents a growing problem that makes collecting hard for, well, collectors. More and more money is needed for people to complete sets in what is a financially difficult time around the globe.
Let’s break down some of the set stats:
That’s a lot of potentially expensive cards required to completePaldean Fates.
I’ll be honest, I’m a rabid Pokemon TCG fan and a huge shiny hunter when playing the Pokemon games, but the “Fates” sets have never really done a lot for me. I’ve mastered over half of the sets since Hidden Fates was released, but not one of them are expansions that are part of the previous “Fates” duo. And, as nice as some of the cards are, I don’t think Paldean Fates is going to change that.
