Items13The creator’s order
  1. 1Pokémon Card Game Expansion Pack (Japanese, 1996)Pokémon Card Game Expansion Pack (Japanese, 1996)This is where the card game began. Japan's first set came out on October 20, 1996, more than two years before its 102 cards became the English Base Set. The prize for importers is the first print run, which carries no rarity symbol at all. Collectors call these No Rarity cards and treat them as…0
  2. 2Pokémon Card★VS (Japanese, 2001)Pokémon Card★VS (Japanese, 2001)The clearest case for importing: a 2001 set built entirely from the Pokémon of Kanto and Johto's Gym Leaders, Elite Four, Champion and Team Rocket, and never released in English. Wizards of the Coast passed on it, reportedly worried that the cards' high HP and strong attacks would break the…0
  3. 3Pokémon Card★Web (Japanese, 2001)Pokémon Card★Web (Japanese, 2001)A small oddity from October 2001: 48 cards, released only in Japan and sold only online, sitting in a cycle of its own rather than as part of a larger series. Dark Charizard, pictured, is among its holos. That online-only sale is the whole appeal. The set was never sold in shops, so it fills a gap…0
  4. 4GX Ultra Shiny (Japanese High Class Pack)GX Ultra Shiny (Japanese High Class Pack)Shiny Pokémon are the reason to open this one. Every 10-card pack guarantees a Pokémon-GX, and every box promises a shiny Pokémon-GX, which makes a sealed box a fairly safe way to land a shiny hit. At release in November 2018 it was billed as the biggest set in Japanese card history, and it…0
  5. 5Tag All Stars (Japanese High Class Pack)Tag All Stars (Japanese High Class Pack)The Sun & Moon era's farewell, and a set with no English version. It gathers Tag Team GX cards old and new in one place, with Reshiram & Charizard GX and Pikachu & Zekrom GX among the headliners. Some cards appear only at SR and higher, several with new illustrations, and special mirror-finish…0
  6. 6Shiny Star V (Japanese High Class Pack)Shiny Star V (Japanese High Class Pack)The Sword & Shield era's shiny set, with 127 shiny Pokémon, the most any set had carried at the time, including shiny Pokémon V and VMAX. Every 10-card pack guarantees a V or VMAX. English collectors got most of these cards in Shining Fates in February 2021, mixed with cards from starter products.…0
  7. 7VMAX Climax (Japanese High Class Pack)VMAX Climax (Japanese High Class Pack)The set that introduced Character Super Rares, cards that paint a trainer beside their Pokémon: Red with Pikachu VMAX, May with Blaziken V, Hop with Zamazenta V. Character Rares such as N with Zekrom fill out the theme. There is no direct English version. Some of the artwork later surfaced in…0
  8. 8VSTAR Universe (Japanese High Class Pack)VSTAR Universe (Japanese High Class Pack)Art Rares and Special Art Rares, the full-illustration rarities that now drive modern collecting, made their debut here in December 2022. The set closed out Sword & Shield by reprinting many favorite cards of the era with special artwork. Its cards reached English in Crown Zenith in January 2023,…0
  9. 9Pokémon Card 151 (Japanese Enhanced Expansion Pack)Pokémon Card 151 (Japanese Enhanced Expansion Pack)All 151 original Pokémon in Pokédex order, Bulbasaur to Mew, with Art Rares, Special Art Rares and mirror cards stamped with a Poké Ball pattern. English collectors got a near identical 151 set three months later, in September 2023. The difference is how you buy it. English 151 came in Elite…0
  10. 10Shiny Treasure ex (Japanese High Class Pack)Shiny Treasure ex (Japanese High Class Pack)Scarlet & Violet's first big special set, and its shiny one: a December 2023 release mixing shiny Pokémon with reprints of earlier cards, with a Pokémon ex promised in every 10-card pack. English collectors got these cards as Paldean Fates in January 2024, but those packs were sold only inside…0