I’ve reviewed everyPokemon Trading Card Gameexpansion, going all the way back toSword & Shield base set- and collected cards long before that - and in almost every review I’ve expressed the same concern: there are way too many Pokemon cards in each expansion.
If you’re still collecting master sets, God love you, but I gave up many years ago. Once sets started to contain nearly as many secret rares as regular cards, it became impossible to ever collect a full set - unless you were willing to buy singles of most cards, but where’s the fun in that?
WithBlack Bolt and White Flare, the Pokemon TCG has officially gone too far. The 340-card set will have around 460 chase cards, making this an 800-card mega set that doesn’t even have boosters. If you’re planning to collect Black Bolt and White Flare, you may want to focus on singles instead.
The Ultimate Unova Set
As a dual set celebrating all things Gen 5, Black Bolt and White Flare have almost everything you could ask for. All 156 Unova Pokemon will be featured across both sets with a wide variety of alternate versions of each card to collect. In fact, we’ve never seen this much variety in any set before.
Here’s a rough breakdown. These sets will feature a combined (estimated) 130 Illustration Rares, ten Special Illustration Rares, 12 Pokemon ex, and 16 ultra rare. On top of that, there will be three different parallel foil sets. So far we know one will feature a Rainbow Poke Ball Reverse Holo and another will feature a Masterball Reverse Holo. Then there is a new rarity called Black & White Rares, which as the name implies, will feature black and white cards.
This means there are, at minimum, five versions of all 156 Pokemon: a regular card, a Reverse Holo, a Rainbow Poke Ball Reverse, a Masterball Reverse Holo, and either an Illustration Rare or a Secret Illustration Rare. Then there’s the third parallel set which could represent a sixth version of each Pokemon, and then on top of that you’ve got the Black & White cards and the trainer cards, which will also have Reverse Holo and ultra rare versions. Folks, that’s way too many cards.
A Collector’s Dream, Or A Collector’s Nightmare?
If you really don’t care what you pull and you just want to open some packs and find some shiny cards, then this might be an awesome set for you. With so many rarities and parallels sets, it’s reasonable to assume that most, if not all, packs you open will have something sparkly inside.
If you’re a completionist though, well, I hope you’re at least a wealthy completionist. Even if you’re just buying singles, 800 cards is pretty outrageous. That’s how many cards most other TCGs release in an entire year.
Keep in mind that this is a special collection, so you won’t be able to buy booster packs either. We’ve seen how difficult it can be to even find product for sets like this, and given the way things have been going lately, I expect Black Bolt and White Flare to fly off shelves and end up on eBay all at the same time come launch day.
It’s too many cards to even care. It’s nice that the entire Unova Dex is included, but if you have a particular favorite, it’s not as though you’re ever going to see it. Maybe you’ll pull the common version and, if you’re lucky, the Reverse Holo, but if you come into these sets hoping to find your favorite’s Illustration Rare in your $60 Elite Trainer Box, you’d be better off playing the lotto.
I don’t want to come down too hard on Pokemon for shaking things up and delivering new and unexpected TCG sets, but there’s got to be a better way to keep things interesting than to cram 800 cards into a pair of special collection sets. It looks like something for everyone, but in reality, no one is going to get what they want.
