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Matthew Morgan - Boa Hancock Op04
Whilst waiting for more of the newest One Piece Card Game set, I managed to get my hands on a few OP04 double packs. Unlike a normal booster box, the contents of double packs aren't mapped which means you might be lucky enough to find alternate arts and treasure cards inside.
And that's just what I managed to do!
Inside one of the packs, I found a stunningly pristine Boa Hancock, but looks can be receiving. This is one of two treasure cards from this set which are alternate art printings from previous
sets. This card was originally printed in OP01 and you can see this in the bottom right hand corner of the card.
What really stands about this card is the embossed silver background behind Boa, which has small devil fruit shapes printed in gloss. When the card catches the light, these devil fruit shapes
shine through and look mesmerising.
And if that wasn't impressive enough, these cards would normally be limited to 1 per crate of booster boxes. Which works out at 1 in 288 packs. Which goes to show why it's worth picking up
some double packs if you find them in the wild.
Although this particular card isn't played in any current meta decks, it's the rarity and the unique printing that makes this card so sought after. And OP04 was alone in having these sorts of
cards...
In fact, every set printed will have unique treasure and manga rare cards that players and collectors and eager to get their hands on. Which hopefully means that I'll be back in a few months with another exciting One Piece pull that's even better than this beauty!
Sam de Smith - Hyperspace Foil
So my TCG pull of the month is, maybe unsurprisingly, from Star Wars Unlimited.
I was lucky enough to pull this very lovely Hyperspace Foil (or Hyperfoils as they're becoming known) of Smoke and Cinders, one of a number of real power rare events for Red (aggression) - my high speed Cassian deck just loves this card, turn 3 is usually Vanquish to take out a nuisance unit but it's good to have other options, particularly to knock out key cards from their hand. Plus foils don't take up a rare slot, so this beauty was double prizes alongside a Fallen Lightsaber. Chîrrut / Tarkintown starting to look mighty tempting...
Stefano Paravisi - Pokemon Temporal Forces: Salvatore
My Pull of the Month for March is obviously a card from the new Pokemon set “Temporal Forces” that has been released on the 22nd of March. I had a lot of fun opening a booster box from this set with my family on the day of release and I think the overall base set is quite nice to collect with its 162 new cards. Looking at all the cards from the set, I was quite surprised when I realized we managed to find four different versions of “Salvatore”, an uncommon Supporter card. I think this is the first time it ever happen to me! Salvatore is also a great card and a new Supporter first introduced in this set thus I decided it has to be my Pull of the Month for March.
For those who don't play the video games, Salvatore is a language teacher at Naranja Academy in Pokemon Scarlet (or at Uva Academy if you are playing Pokemon Violet). In the TGC, its card ability seems similar to other Supporter or item cards as it allows a player to search their deck for a Pokemon that evolves from one of their Pokemon already in play. However, what makes Salvatore very interesting is that it allows a player to immediately play the evolution Pokemon they found. This is a very critical difference as players can ignore the general rule and therefore evolve their Pokemon on their first turn or on the same turn they played a basic Pokemon. Salvatore will also allow to evolve a Pokemon that has been already evolved this turn bringing an impressive advantage to a player. The main catch is that Salvatore can only look for Pokemons without Abilities but this seems a very minor issue for a card we will likely see played a lot.
Having pulled both alternative art cards, I would also like to take a second to remind on how much effort is always spent to make each Pokemon card as beautiful as it is playable. Being a collector, I love the twist the artists put on these Illustration Rares, in particular when they try to show a bit of the character's life behind the card. Looking to the last card (212/196) for example, you can imagine the very confident and charming professor you saw on the other cards running late for class and leaving the house with his breakfast still on the table. Observing a bit more the card, you will also see a lot of small details that reminds of voyages and places to visit that likely connects to the background of Salvatore being a language teacher. I know is difficult to get these rare cards from a set but, when it happens, they always remind me that the characters or Pokemons on these cards have a story and a personality that is fun to learn.
Rob Wright - Pokemon Temporal Forces: Grotle
Happy days, all you Poke-players, happy days! Temporal Forces has landed and caused quite a splash, bringing us a whole slew of new Ancient and Future cards, with the dino-versions of the legendary dogs (Walking Wake – Suicune; Raging Bolt – Raikou; Gouging Fire – Entei) and the robo-versions of the swords of justice (Iron Leaves – Virizion; Iron Boulder – Terrakion; Iron Crown – Cobalion) being the poster-beasties of this set. We’ve got some completely new decks coming out of this, like Ancient and Future boxes, and there are some pretty fun cards to play that will tweak up existing decks. There are also some very nice-looking Art and SpeTcial Art Rare cards, as we’ve come to expect from the S&V era.
My pull of the month, though not particularly playable, is one of those gorgeous Art Rare cards. Torterra ex makes an appearance in Temporal Forces, and you can’t have a Torterra without Grotle, and here it is. The most beautiful Grotle giving a Maril for a little ride through the corn, illustrated by Oswaldo KATO (sic). Oswaldo has now illustrated 67 cards, starting with his Venipede from Chilling Pain… Reign. These include the MC Escher-esque (not a DJ) Palkia Origin Forme Alt Art from Astral Radiance and, coincidentally, the Torterra card from Brilliant Stars. What goes around, comes around. Slowly and steadily.
Oswaldo KATO’s (sic) style is mostly playful and gentle as opposed to bold and bright, and this Grotle is no exception – a thoroughly bucolic glimpse of Sinnoh region. It is certainly not the optimum Grotle, which is still the Grotle from Brilliant Stars with its Sun-Drenched Shell ability, but is a turtle-y welcome addition to my collection of pretty cards.