Trainers, don’t lie: how many shiny Pokémon are in the boxes of your Pokémon Home? The answer will be “few”, “very few”, or even “none”. And there’s nothing wrong with that: in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the chance of finding a Chromatic Pokémon is one in 4,096. In previous titles it was one in 8,192. Of course, there are methods to artificially increase percentages, but they require a lot of dedication.
While in video games completing a shiny Pokédex is a forbidden dream for most, the new Pokémon Destiny of Paldea expansion promises to let you capture a plethora of chromatic Pokémon at least in the Trading Card Game. During an event in Milan, The Pokémon Company allowed us to take a look at the Paldea Destiny products, to “unpack” some chromatic monsters and to challenge other trainers using the two Battle Decks dedicated to Kangaskhan-ex and Greninja-ex.
Destiny of Paldea: a wave of shiny Pokémon!
Destino di Paldea arrived in specialized shops and on newsstands at the end of January. Unlike other Pokémon TCG sets, the latest expansion was not released in classic bulk packs or 36-pack boxes. This is because it is a special set, excluded from the official numbering of the main expansions of the trading card game (which therefore goes directly from Temporal Paradox to Chronoforces, out in March).
Furthermore, unlike other “off-list” sets such as Regal Zenit and 151, Destino di Paldea is a set made up largely of reprints. 91 cards comprise the numbered cardlist: of these, 55% (50 cards) are reprints of the best monsters and trainers from the 2023 expansions, while the remaining 45% (41 cards) are absolute novelties, imported into the West by Japanese expansion on which Paldea’s Fate is based, namely Shiny Treasure EX. Like all special sets – at least in the Pokémon TCG – Paldea’s Destiny is only available in collector’s products, and not in individual packs. Among these bundles, during the Milan event we were able to admire the classic Star Player Trainer Set, which contains everything you need to start playing (nine expansion packs, a shiny Mimikyu promo card, an energy deck, as well as protective packs for your deck, dice, coins and tokens), but also the tins of Charizard-ex, Ironfurrow-ex and Grandizanne-ex, the mini-tins of two packs each, the Premium Collections of Meowscarada-ex, Quaquaval- ex and Skeledirge-ex (with four packs), and finally the Greavard, Fidough and Maschiff Sticker Collections (three packs). All these products have already arrived in stores or will make their debut by the end of February: an excellent opportunity for a final unpacking before the arrival of Cronoforze.
Obviously the absence of loose sachets makes it more complex and expensive to get the whole set. Combined with the relatively small cardlist and high number of reprints, some might wonder if it’s worth collecting Doom of Paldea. The answer is a firm “yes”, as long as you do it the right way. The strong point of the expansion are its shines, which are distributed generously in the packs (two chromatic Pokémon for every three packs, on average), as well as the Illustration Rare cards and the Special Illustration Rares, which also reproduce chromatic monsters or full art coaches.
Finally there are the usual Ultra Rares and six Hyper Rare cards with golden edges and a new color for the background, which is now an elegant petrol blue shade. When we told you that the numbered cardlist included 91 cards, it was a half-truth: in addition to the latter, in fact, Destiny of Paldea has 154 non-series cards, divided between shiny Pokémon, Illustration Rares and so on, for a total of 245 cards overall.
In fact, it is a card list that is very similar, in size, to that of sets like Burning Obsidian, with the difference that here the bulk of the cards are of high rarity. From our unpacking experience we noticed rather generous pull rates, which could make the experience less traumatic than expected. It goes without saying that Paldea’s Destiny was not designed so much to collect the chromatic creatures from first to last, but to add a handful of shiny ones to each trainer’s album, without pretensions of completionism and keeping the aura of exclusivity of Paldea intact. these little monsters.
The unpacking experience is made even more pleasant by the excellent artwork of the standard and Special Illustration Rares, which not surprisingly are already among the chase cards of the set, with prices that on the secondary market fluctuate between 15 and 120 Euros (Cardmarket data) . One of the cards most appreciated by collectors is undoubtedly the Mew-ex Shiny (PAF-232) by Usgmen, drawn with pastel colors and with a line reminiscent of illustrated children’s books, but also the inspired Gardevoir-ex (PAF -233) by Kuroimori, which combines one of the monsters most appreciated by the fanbase with an extended illustration full of details and capable of fully conveying the elegance and magic of the Hug Pokémon.
The third Rare special illustration of Destino di Paldea, Akira Egawa’s Charizard-ex Teracristal (PAF-234), with an almost futuristic artwork, is also highly sought after by fans. The same goes for Yuu Nishida’s chromatic Pikachu (PAF-131), which does not have extensive illustrations but whose price remains quite high due to the importance of the little monster in anime and pop culture. To these cards, we would like to add the three Rare Illustrations of Wugtrio, Pawmi and, above all, Palafin, also equipped with a highly valuable treatment, capable of conveying the distinctive character of the three Pokémon to the public.
Learn how to play the Greninja and Kangskhan Battle Decks
With a card list made up largely of reprints, Paldea’s Destiny is not a playfully intriguing set, as it does not add new irons to the fire in competitive Pokémon. In themselves, the only two new features worth mentioning seem to be the Technical Machinery: Spiteful Fist (PAF-090) and the Moonlight Hill (PAF-081), which could make space in more than a few competitive decks. Since organized play is not the strong point of Destiny of Paldea, during the Milanese event The Pokémon Company offered us to challenge ourselves with the Greninja and Kangaskhan Battle-ex Decks, which represent an excellent entry point for new players. trainers and for those returning to the Pokémon TCG after a long absence.
The two decks revolve around their respective cover monsters: one has the Water type as its “heart”, while the other revolves around the Normal and Grass types. These are two decks designed to experiment with the “new” ex mechanic, reintroduced with some changes in the ninth generation of the Pokémon TCG after an absence of more than ten years. The two decks follow very simple strategies and are not designed for high-level competitive players, but to be approached by anyone and to explain the rules or refresh the memory of those who are rusty.
A promise that is largely kept, since each deck has everything you need to start playing immediately, including three quick reference cards for managing the turn and the status conditions of the Pokémon, a playmat with lots of information useful on where and how to place the cards and even a player guide, which in reality can easily be skipped, given that the Pokémon TCG is still the cardgame with the sweetest difficulty curve among those on the market.
On the other hand, the audience is also and above all made up of girls and boys, so simplicity is necessary. Simple, however, does not mean banal. Although at certain times Battle Decks may seem rather piloted and, at times, even boring for adults, they still represent an excellent first approach to the cardgame. The advice, in this case, is to purchase two different Battle Decks – in addition to those of Kangaskhan and Greninja there are many others in circulation – and some packs of the expansion you prefer. After a first introductory game with the “virgin” Battle Deck, you can then begin to unpack and hybridize your starting deck with the strongest cards you find, or build a completely new one from scratch, using the Battle Deck as an example for a correct distribution of Trainers, Pokémon and Energy. The choice is up to you. What is certain, however, is that the combination of Battle Decks and Paldea’s Destiny packs is a nice entry point to the Pokémon TCG in 2024 too.