What's In A Pack Of Pokémon Cards | A Guide To TCG Rarities

Many Pokemon trainers asked the question just what is in a pack of Pokemon cards well this video will serve as your guide to the rarities as we clearly define just what is in a pack of Pokemon cards whether you've been an avid collector since the nineties or you're just getting started there are some fundamentals to opening packs that it helps to be aware of if you were to head out and buy a couple of boosters what's in store for you the modern era booster packs of Pokemon cards can be purchased in 3 main ways as single booster packs in multi-packs or included as part of special premium collectors or gift packs in booster boxes which contain 36 booster packs each booster pack of Pokemon cards contains 10 cards in one basic energy card. 

So we know what the rarities are but how do they appear in a booster pack of Pokemon cards a guide to rarities before we open a booster pack to see what's on offer it's important to go over the rarities available impact the rarities are as follows common uncommon rare holo rare V. E. or G. acts hello rare V. Max culture rare rainbow rare secret rare. Mazing rare character cards prism star cards that are a lot of rarities let's break it down to better understand them all the first rarities are fairly self-explanatory Commons on Commons and rares are exactly that you'll encounter them less often impacts as the rarity level increases all arrears are distinct from rares and feature. 

The art in the background of the card foiled out from set to set the spoiling can change but it's always the background art that spoiled out it's important to note here that regular rares can never occur as hollow rares all of these initial rarities can show up as reverse holler raiders in what's known as the parallel sent the parallel set comprises every card that is available in common uncommon rare and hollow rare but instead finished with the reverse hollow treatment it's a really cool effect that gives the frame and background of the car to foil treatment while leaving. 

The art itself alone in a matte finish next up we have hollow rare V. cards like GX cards and E. X. cards are splashy powerful Pokemon that come in a foiled card with a distinct art style a common misconception is to call these cards culture rares though they show up less often and are in a way quote-unquote ultra-rare that is not their official designation hello rare V. Max cards and mega evolution E. X. cards also feature at this rarity though it's debated that regular V. Max cards or slightly harder to find ultra rares feature full art Pokemon and trainers and are harder to find than their regular counterparts you know you've opened one when you open a card with art that fills the card.

Inside the frame and often these cards also have a textured finish which you can feel as you run yours for. Anger over the card it's a small feature but many people really love the tactile finish now that covers the rares that you can find documented in official setlists but there are cards rarer still that drop every so often the first of these is the rainbow rare these can take the form of a Pokemon GX Pokemon V. Max and trainer cards you'll know you've opened a rainbow rare when you see the metallic rainbow effect finish and the stylized illustrations the other card type outside the setlist is the secret rare the secret rares most commonly come in the form of metallic gold-finished cards and have done for quite some time they have a similar textured finish the full arcs but feature a stunningly luxurious gold finish secret rares can feature other cards.

Types to a classic secret rare are the shiny Pokemon the equivalent of the alternate color one in 4096 chance of obtaining a rare pocket monster in the video games thankfully these are more common than that but still pretty hard to find finally there are a number of repairs that tend to change between sets these repairs can be found in the parallel rare slot replacing a reverse hollow card they can be cards within the main shaft in the case of prism star cards were amazing rares or they can be secret rares like the character cards from sun and moon toss make eclipse all right so we know what the rarities are but just how do they appear in a booster pack of Pokemon cards what's in a booster pack let's open a booster pack to see exactly what's on offer the composition of a pack of Pokemon cards is as follows.

5 Commons they paralleled reversed slot a rare slot in energy slot 3 under Commons and of course, the code card which you can redeem online for a digital pack of Pokemon cards the first cards in the Packers always 5 common cards, for the most part, these are always Pokemon cards though in rare cases the set will have common trainer cards next up we have the reverse slot also known as the parallel rare slot this slot is the first of 2 slots in the pack that can contain some of the rarest cards in the set the majority of the time this lot contains reverse hollow card from the parallel sat, however, this slot can also contain prism star cards character cards or in the case of vivid voltage amazing rares after the reverse slot comes to the rare slot contains either a regular rare.

Hollow rare. Or in some cases a Pokemon V. or Pokemon V. Max on rare occasions it can have a full art culture rare card and on rare occasions still it can contain around rare or secret rare card that's a lot of power packed into that one little slot please note if you hit a reverse hollow rare or even an amazing rare in the parallel slot that won't stop you from opening any of the other rare cards in the rare slot it is entirely possible to get double rare package nice. After the rare slot, we get a basic energy card from sword and shield onwards the basic energy is. S. energy.

Fire energy-water energy lighting energy psychic energy fighting energy darkness energy metal energy. If you do open some packs from sun and moon series you might also open very energy but very type has been retired from sword and shield onwards after the basic energy you'll get 3 on Commons the Commons often include trainer cards Pokemon cards and special energy finally you'll receive that code card these code cards are used on the Pokemon TCG online client to redeem a corresponding booster pack of the same set that you just opened well the booster pack you receive will not replicate the same cards it does still give you a full digital booster pack that can be opened or even traded on the online client if you watch a lot of YouTube videos of pack openings or maybe just your friend who likes to crack open packs you may have noticed that when you open a pack the order of Pokemon cards.

In there appear to be a little difference well that's likely because what you've seen in those YouTube videos or with your friend is what's known as the pack trick which is essentially changing the order rearranging the cards on purpose to put the rare slots at the back the Patrick explained if you'd like to replicate the Patrick then it's pretty simple when you open a booster pack make sure to keep the cards facing away from you then take the code card out if you're you tuber show it to your viewers so that one of them may redeem at and then take the 3 on Commons and the energy card from the back of the pack and place them at the front instead it's really that simple from set to set the order of the cards can change but it's not hard to figure it out this is done to achieve a little suspense and build up while opening packs and can help to make it more exciting waiting until the last card for the payoff normal booster pack order as I've laid out is used to keep the rare cards.

In the center of the pack, this is to help them stay in as pristine condition as possible and limit. Aaron damage different rarities from set to set Pokemon introduces different rarities to the mix usually when a new video games announced the TCG will reboot and introduce a new base sat alongside Pokemon X. and Y. we get the X. Y. base at which introduced mega Pokemon E. acts for sun and moon we got Pokemon GX and for sword and shield we got Pokemon V. these special Pokemon always feature in the rare slot while the other rarities can be a little more fluid the Pokemon company international doesn't communicate the pull rates on different rarities and as such we can't say with any absolute certainty which cards.

Are rarer than others however generally speaking the community consensus is that Pokemon V. N. V. Max appears in roughly one in every 3 to 6 packs depending on how big the set is rainbow rare sinful arts are around one to 2 in each booster box with secret rares appearing around every other box sometimes we'll get a set within a sense most recently this was the shiny vaults subset in hit and fates which was listed separately and seeded in booster packs in the parallel hollow slot we've also seen this before with sets like the radiant collection a small 25 card set that was found within booster packs of black and white legendary treasures we've covered the essentials of opening modern era poking one pack today but there's a whole world out there of different cards to collect different soil treatments and exciting versions of your favorite Pokemon. 

What's sad is my card from there's one more piece of data on the card that's useful though and that's the set symbol you might not always open a card from a booster pack in though knowing the rarities can help sometimes you'll be stuck on the set symbol the symbol in the bottom left corner relates to the sentence from this can be a larger set or a smaller collection like the McDonald's collection when buying modern Pokemon products cards in booster packs will be from one of the named expansion sets any promo cards that feature front and center in a product whether that be a Pokemon V. in a tin or an alternate art like more Paco V. from the morning special collection are black star promo cards if in doubt check the symbol if the symbolism Blackstar than their black star promos.

I go through what's legal and standard in my how to build a standard deck video if you're wanting to play with standard legal cards but otherwise knowing how to decipher the symbol is still useful as a collector there are many great online resources to find out what set your card is from the easiest one to read is the one located on Justin Basil.com head over to the appendix V. page percent abbreviations and you can see these at a glance run through in reverse chronological order I hope very much this video has helped you to figure out exactly what you can open in a booster pack of Pokemon cards opening a pack of Pokemon cards is always fun but it doesn't need to be confusing if you'd like to learn more about the Pokemon trading card game you can check out my other videos such as what exactly is a standard Pokemon tack in how to build one or even just brush up on the rules or learn about Pokemon products here and here and you, of course.