Pokemon Cards FAQ

Pokemon Cards, what does it all mean?

Rarity

There are 4 main types of rarity for Pokémon Trading Cards, each card's rarity can be seen at the bottom corner of the card.
A black circle in the bottom corner shows a card is common.
A black diamond in the bottom corner shows an uncommon card.
A black star in the bottom corner of the card shows a rare card, these are often the higher attack cards and are more expensive to purchase singles of.

Card Types

Holo

A holographic card is a shiny card with a black star, the picture is the shiny part of the card on a holographic card. These cards are often sought after and are technically 'more rare' than the reverse holo which is explained next.

Reverse Holo

A reverse holo is a shiny and black star except instead of the picture being shiny, the rest of the card excluding the picture is holographic.

Full Art/Full Body

Introduced during the Black & White Expansion, full art or full body cards have artwork over the entire card rather than just the tupper section of the card.

Secret Rare

Potentially the easiest card to distinguish despite being one of the hardest to pull from packs, a secret rare has a number beyond the cards in the pack. Check the bottom corner, if it's something like “120/110” it's a secret rare! These cards are often alternative art of cards which appear earlier in the pack.

Secret Rainbow Rare

Similar to a secret rare, this card number goes past the regular card numbers in a pack, but much like the name suggests, secret rainbow rare cards have a rainbow holographic across the card.

Gold Secret Rare

As above, the secret rare card refers to a card that appears past the usual numbers in a set, however the gold of this card refers to the holographic gold that coats the card.

Rainbow Rare

Appearing in the usual card numbers, Rainbow rares are known as they are as they have a distinct rainbow holographic artwork, this was introduced in the Sun & Moon Expansion.

Promo

Cards that are in promo sets, are cards that are part of a promotion or an event. These cards often have a black star with the word promo on top to distinguish them from regular sets.

Special Cards (VMAX, V etc)

Pokémon-Ex

Also known as Pokémon ex in earlier sets are powerful cards, the EX stands for extra, which means they have extra abilities over the regular cards. In play the card is a Basic Pokémon and so can be played straight from the hand HOWEVER like many ultra rare cards, when defeated the card enables the opponent who defeated the card to take 2 prize cards rather than the usual 1. Earlier sets had more Pokémon-EX with newer sets focussing more on Pokémon-GX.

Pokémon-GX

Similar to an Pokémon-EX, defined by the GX at the end of the name, the cards aren’t always Basic Pokémon like EX and therefore require evolutions to be played, however they do come with a special GX move which can only be used once in a game as it is so powerful.

Tag Team Pokémon-GX

GX cards with a twist, Tag Team Pokémon-GX features 2 Pokémon with added strength to compensate for the added Pokémon, the downside to Tag Team GX is that when defeated opponents can take 3 prize cards.

Pokémon Legend

With the Legend stated at the top of a card after the name in gold font, Pokémon Legend cards require 2 cards to be combined in order to play them, when knocked out opponents get 2 prize cards for the 2 cards that are defeated, these cards were exclusive to Heart Gold and Soul Silver sets and so they are super rare now to collect.

Pokémon LV.X

Adding an extra stage or level for a Pokémon, these cards are placed on top of an existing card, keeping the previous attacks and gaining some more. Beginning in Diamond and Pearl Era and ending in the Platinum Arceus’ expansion these cards aren’t quite as rare as Pokémon Legend cards but still hold some rarity.

Pokémon Prime

Exclusively in Heart Gold and Soul Silver Sets have the same functions as a normal Pokémon card however they are more powerful and rarer. These cards can be distinguished by the border surrounding the picture which shows the Pokémon 'bursting' and with a glaring eye.

Pokémon Star

With a gold star next to the name these cards don't have a huge rep in the game as they don’t change much, however they are seen as rare cards and are described often as cool to look at, similar to Shiny Pokémon in the Pokémon Video Games, Pokémon Star are the Trading Card Games version of shinies.

Pokémon BREAK

These cards have horizontally positioned artwork, a golden Pokémon colouring and a metallic holofoil background. These cards are evolutions of Pokémon however when positioned on top of other cards they are placed horizontally. These cards came as part of the X and Y Generation making them rarer and more expensive now.

Pokémon Prism Star Card

These cards are more powerful that regular cards and have a few special rules as well, specifically you can’t have more than one Pokémon Prism Star card with the same name in your deck, alongside of this when playing the card if it ends up in the discard pile it actually should go to the Lost Zone instead.

Pokémon V

Introduced in the Sword and Shield expansion, these cards are similar to Pokémon-ex cards and offer players extra hit points and stronger attacks than regular Pokémon, all Pokémon V cards are Basic Pokémon meaning they can just be played without having to evolve.

Pokémon VSTAR

These cards are new, introduced in Brilliant Stars expansion these cards are identified by the VSTAR graphic on the card name, they evolve from Pokémon V and have increased hit points and more powerful attacks, they also allow players to access an exclusive mechanic called V STAR Power, this can only be used once per game but allows players to access a powerful attack or ability.

Pokémon VMAX

Evolving from Pokémon V, these cards are super powerful and are often pretty cool cards to collect as well. Pokémon VMAX cards often have the highest hit points found in legally playable cards; they also allow opponents to take 3 prize cards when knocked out instead of the usual 1. These cards debuted in the Sword & Shield expansion and are representative of Dynamax, Gigantamax, Eternamax mechanics from the Pokémon Sword & Shield video game.

Radiant Pokémon

All Radiant Pokémon are Basic Pokémon, however they have an exclusive foil on the card and feature Shiny Pokémon with special attacks and abilities. While players can’t have more than one Radiant Pokémon in their deck, they can have multiple cards of the same name as well as a Radiant card, for example a player can have 4 Heatran cards as well as 1 Radiant Heatran.

Pokémon V-UNION

Introduced in Sword & Shield, these cards consist of four different cards with the same name. These cards can be played in game from the discard pile into the bench to make a single Pokémon but only once per game.