When Journey Together was released, I was a huge fan. I still am, in all honesty, but the ever-turning wheel of new Pokémon cards means I can’t spend too much time focusing on the latest set. However, the return of the Unova region and its iconic ‘Mons are just too beautiful to pass up – so I’m skipping Destined Rivals entirely and going full steam on the Pokémon Black Bolt and White Flare set.
People spend their time collecting Pokémon cards in a variety of ways. Some prefer getting every card in the newest Pokémon set before moving on, while TCG gamers may buy singles for deckbuilding, instead of ripping packs. Personally, my focus has always been on getting the Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rares for each set, and storing them all in their own dedicated binders.
While Journey Together’s variety of Trainers’ Pokémon and beautiful cards had me enchanted for a long time, Destined Rivals has fallen quite flat, in my opinion. The SIR of Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex should’ve made JT one of the best Pokémon packs money can buy, but the focus on Giovanni in the artwork made it quite boring. Alright, so I’m still a huge fan of Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex as an SIR – but the rest of the cards simply don’t entice me.
It’s the first Pokémon set I’ve completely avoided since getting back into the trading card game last year. This expansion just doesn’t give me the Jolteon-level buzz that I had for Prismatic Evolutions, Journey Together, or even Surging Sparks – I was even starting to worry that maybe my love for Pokémon had fizzled out, and looked to start selling my rare Pokémon cards in my collection so I could use the cash to get into baseball cards instead (only joking, I’d buy a Nintendo Switch 2, obviously).
Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Thanks to a recent reveal by PokéBeach, the Black Bolt and White Flare ‘secret rares’ have been showcased, and they’re nothing short of gorgeous. Best of all, there are evolutionary lines of secret rares – for example, Tepig, Pignite, and Emboar are all getting the full art treatment. It looks like a real love letter to Unova, and a great set before the launch of Pokémon Legends: Z-A later this year.
I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s the first ever dual set, so chances are that, while I hope the company has invested more into printing since the start of this year, it might mean the print is split between the two sets. What that means for the current hype and lack of stock, I’m not sure, but I can only hope I’ll get my hands on it.
However, if you’re also hoping to grab Black Bolt and White Flare when they arrive, I’d recommend keeping an eye out for stock at the following retailers in the near future:
I’d recommend bookmarking these pages and, if possible, creating an account and potentially setting up some stock reminders when the listings appear. It’s a hard battle getting stock of any Pokémon set right now, so you should prepare for some ‘out of stock’ messages and queues – but if you do end up ordering through those links, Wargamer will get a little commission from the store, so it’s a neat way to support us too.
Before the new set lands, make sure to check out the list of legendary Pokémon to see what you may have missed out on (or what to keep an eye out for, if you’re hoping for more stock). If you’re looking for the tankiest ‘Mon you can get, check out the highest HP Pokémon cards in our guide.
Make sure you join the Wargamer Discord to talk about the newest Pokémon set, discuss Warhammer, and more.
Source: Wargamer
