Gaming
Games
The most wanted shiny Pokémon trading cards
All collectors want to get hold of these rare cards.
Alternate coloured Pokémon, also known as 'Shiny' Pokémon, are very sought after by die-hard Pokémon fans. These Pokémon, in most cases, are exceptionally rare, so are the ultimate way to show off.
They can be found in both the Trading Card Game and Video Game. Some Pokémon content creators known as 'Shiny hunters' dedicate a lot of time hunting these alternate-coloured Pokémon for their collection.
The latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Shining Legends, celebrates just this. This 'small' sub-set of Pokémon cards has, as the set name suggests, a whole bunch of legendary Pokémon, some of which can be found in their shiny colours.
Unlike past expansions, this special set will guarantee you at least a holo card per booster packet, as well as the possibility of pulling a reverse holo energy card for the first time in the Sun and Moon card style (this is a big deal for some competitive players who like a bit of bling in their decks!).
Anyway, there have been a moderate amount of Shiny Pokémon appear across Pokémon TCG sets over the years. Here are some of the most sought after.
1. Shining Ho-oh
Shining Ho-oh
© Pokémon Company International
The new Shining Legends set, like Generations, are only available in promo sets – pin collections and super-expensive premium sets. The first Shining Legends product to be released is the Elite Trainer Box. These are the same as past Elite Trainer box sets but with another two booster packs and a promo card.
Promo cards can be a bit 'meh' but this is your only way to obtain the super shiny Shining Ho-oh card. The Elite Trainer Boxes retail at around £40-50, and while it might not be the rarest on the list, it could be expensive to get hold of unless you can find it on eBay.
2. Shiny Rayquaza cards
Shiny Rayquaza
© The Pokémon Company
Legendary Pokémon and cover star of Pokémon Emerald, Rayquaza is very popular amongst Pokémon fans. So it's only natural that a Pokémon that's popular gets a whole bunch of Pokémon cards over the years. Some of these, naturally, are Shiny Rayquaza cards.
Some of them tie into some kind of event in the Pokémon anime/films or the video games. It also works the other way with the Video Games getting Shiny Pokémon distributions that tie in with the TCG. Shiny Rayquaza also had its very own promotional box set. It's popularity and super cool black look has also earned Rayquaza a place in the new Shining Legends set too.
3. Shiny Gyarados cards
Shiny Gyarados
© The Pokémon Company International
For the slightly older Pokémon fans, the first experience many had of shiny Pokémon was encountering an unusual red Gyarados in the Lake of Rage. Many years later, when the HeartGold/SoulSilver TCG expansion was released, a Shiny Gyarados appeared in the TCG.
Shiny Gyarados was one of the super-rare cards in the XY BREAKpoint expansion, where the shiny variant also features in the set on a couple of cards and the pack artwork for the set. To this day Gyarados in all of its redness appears on a huge fifteen Pokémon cards, the most of any shiny Pokémon!
4. Shining Charizard
Shining Charizard
© The Pokémon Company International
Coming from the 2002 set Neo Destiny is the Shining Charizard card. The popularity of Charizard amongst Pokémon fans is hard to ignore, so it's surprising that we've only seen it's shiny equivalent in the card game three times.
The older Neo series shining cards are all very sought after by collectors, but it's Charizard that appears to have the popular vote. At the time of the Neo Destiny release, the Pokémon TCG craze was dying out. Because of this, packets of Pokémon cards were harder to find in shops as they didn't make as many.
5. Espeon Gold Star
Espeon Gold Star
© The Pokémon Company International
Gold Star (shown by a star symbol by the Pokémon's names) Pokémon cards are super sought after by collectors. The Gold Star Pokémon cards were around in 2004-2007 and feature a handful of Pokémon in their shiny colours. They were very rare, which means having one of these cards in good condition can still reach some high prices on eBay.
But one of the more interesting of the Gold Star selection is the Espeon. In Japan, this card was only available to members of the Pokémon Daisuki Fan Club who had earned 50,000 points. The short time frame given to reach this goal meant that very few of these cards were distributed.
The only way to get this card in English was in POP series packs, which you received via the Pokémon Organised Play system at events. So due to the inconvenient way of obtaining Espeon, it's one of the rarest Shiny Pokémon cards out there.
