Shining Pokémon (TCG)

Shining Pokémon are a type of Pokémon found in the Pokémon Trading Card Game that depict the alternate color variation of a Pokémon. All Shining Pokémon are Basic Pokémon.

If you were looking for shining Pokémon found in the Pokémon games, see Shiny Pokémon.

First introduced in the Neo Revelation expansion, Shining Pokémon created quite a stir in the TCG community, both for their rarity and use of multiple Energy-type attacks. They were also bound by a special rule that allowed only 1 Shining Pokémon in a deck.

Perhaps chosen because of their appearances in the Pokémon anime and Pokémon Gold and Silver, Magikarp and Gyarados were the first Shining Pokémon featured in the TCG, included in Neo Revelation as secret cards. When released in Japan, their prices skyrocketed overseas, with collectors paying $300+ for them each. The odds of finding them in a booster pack were stated as 300:1, reflecting the chances of encountering a Shining Pokémon in the games. Their prices came down with the release of the set in English, but the cards remained difficult to obtain.

Shining Pokémon appeared again in Neo Destiny and once again feature alternate-colored Pokémon. In addition, the character art was given a reflective foil treatment, making the Pokémon literally "shine" (the only exception to this is Shining Mew, which was released as a promotional card in Japan only and is holofoil with an additional glitter coating).

Shining Pokémon in Neo Destiny were once again secret cards and featured a unique rarity symbol of 3 stars reminiscent of the used for alternate-colored Pokémon in the games. This has never been used again in the TCG.

Shining Pokémon returned in the Shining Legends subset of the Sun & Moon series. No longer restricted to the 1 per deck rule, they featured a reflective foil layer applied to the depicted Pokémon, similar to the ones released in Neo Destiny, but did not require multiple Energy types for their attack costs. The subset also introduced a new rarity symbol for these Shining Pokémon, consisting of a foil, blue and yellow colored, eight-pointed star. All the Shining Pokémon included in this set were either Legendary or Mythical Pokémon.