Some of the rarest Pokémon encounters you can have in the games revolve around shiny versions of the iconic Pocket Monsters. In the Pokémon Trading Card Game, that rule carries over. However, every so often, the TCG introduces an expansion that makes them just a tad more obtainable. We recently saw some shiny monsters appear in the Pokémon Sun & Moon – Shining Legends expansion, and now we’re seeing that emphasis return in the latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Shining Fates.
This new expansion brings more than 190 new cards, with more than 100 shiny Pokémon, and more than 30 Pokémon V and Pokémon VMAX cards. We were sent the Elite Trainer Box from the Pokémon Sword & Shield – Shining Fates expansion, as well as a couple of other booster-centric collections. While many of the cards I pulled were from Gen 1 and Gen 8, the rest of the generational distribution was pretty even. You can see the coolest, most interesting, and best cards I was lucky enough to pull from this expansion in the gallery below.
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The Pokémon Trading Card Game Sword & Shield – Shining Fates expansion is available now. For more on the Pokémon Trading Card Game, check out our big galleries for many of the most recent expansions.
- Sword & Shield – Vivid Voltage
- Sword & Shield – Champion’s Path
- Sword & Shield – Darkness Ablaze
- Sword & Shield – Rebel Clash
- Sword & Shield
- Sword & Shield Galar Collection Boxes
- Sun and Moon – Hidden Fates and Unified Minds
- Sun and Moon – Unbroken Bonds
- Sun and Moon – Team Up
- Sun and Moon – Lost Thunder
- Sun and Moon – Celestial Storm
- Sun and Moon – Forbidden Light
- Sun and Moon – Ultra Prism
- Sun and Moon – Shining Legends
- Sun and Moon – Burning Shadows
- Sun and Moon – Guardians Rising
- Sun and Moon
- XY Generations/XY Evolutions
- Premium Trainer’s XY Collection
For our review of Pokémon Sword & Shield, head here. To read our full cover story of Pokémon Sword & Shield, which chronicles the making of the game, head here. You can also read our 2018 interview with the director of the Pokémon Trading Card Game here. For a look at the more absurd side of this hobby, check out this story about how scalpers have been buying up all of McDonald’s Happy Meal Pokémon cards.
